The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-06-05

III
By VICTOR MEEkiNS
Six hundred thousand years man
has lived on this globe, according
to estimates of some anthropolo-
gists, who read what is written in
rocks, make knowing estimates
of old fossils, and sometimes add
three and two together and come
up with the answer of nine.
So far as we can accurately de-
termine, we know of no civil
Taxation of mankind until about
5000 years ago. Although partial
ly savage at times, this rciviliza-
tons has emerged from savagery
sufficiently long to esta bli S h
something of a record of respect
ability and stability. 1t is civili-
cation that con s tantly grows
more complex and we wonder how
long before the human mind will
crack up completely under it. In
the pursuit of the impractical, the
fantastic, the many things that &c
not give value received in human
happiness, mankind is losing toe
much of the finer part of that
which has been the goal of man
kind for more than six thousand
years. 1t has been a long strug.
gle upward through the slime; il
lis almost beyond comprehension
when we recall that in the dim ano
distant past, man had no sense Of
speech. That from those first gut
teral sounds, grunts or groans
modified through contentment
fear, or anger, it was that man be-
gan to understand the moods Of
his fellows. The Interpretation Of
moods grew into sense of under
standing when the animal, mar
began to be forced into herd:
through the W IN e thunders
frightening drive of the elements
of flood and fire, tornado, earth.
quake or tidal wave. The calami'
ties, which man learned after 6
time were not the doings of his
fellows, drove men to seek shelter
through herding together. Only
through the force of chance an6
and achieve measure of safety
fate, the pressure of destiny, the
dreadful manifestations of ma.
ture, did man become driven into
a degree of cooperation with his
fellows. We see this instinct fol-
lowed now by cattle who br &C {
themselves against the blizzard
the strong moving into the front
to protect the weak. We see the
wild geese, with their strong gan
der at the head of the flock
breaking the way, and in turn he
falls back for others to follow and
carry the burden.
Life always seems that way;
None of US might get far if there
were not now, and had not been
s some strong people before, to
breast the wind and the tide and
smooth the pathway for us. Few
of US do all in this life we ought
to do. Many of us surrender too
quickly to Encouragement. But we
may be strengthened by the re-
collection that all cannot be done
in one day. We must ever smother
our impotence when results come
up slowly. We must remember the
long thousands of years with their
tiny gains when mankind appar-
emily made little or no progress
for several centuries in sudces-
sion.
Progress have come in waves
and spurts. In some periods of the
worlds history, great wars have
inspired tremendous surges of
creative genius. Great develop
ments have followed great cata-
trophies. Astounding discoveries
have ben precipitated by urgent
necessity growing out of disaster.
We must not be discouraged if
in the early stages of any move
ment we do not make the progress
we had hoped for. Progress is al
ways fought by many persons.
Progress is fought by selfish peo-
pie, by stupid people, by ignorant
people. Progress calls in genius
and ability to carry tomorrow's
load for which others will not pre-
pare themselves. Progress calls
for the vigor and vision and de-
diication essential to the solution
of great problems, always to be
fought by tn o s too ignorant to
understand.
So little is to be gain e d by
thinking only of today, that it is
pitiful indeed. We think only of
schools sufficiently large to give
jobs to teachers of our choice.
We set up syste m to employ
workers, and when new demands
call for more skills, we employ
more people yet often fail to dis
card the old, the outmoded; but
lightweight at the expense of pro-