The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-05-12
GIVE US MEN
NOT AVERAGE
(From LIFE LINES)

said about averages. Great effort
is put forth and extensive surveys
are made to determine what con-
stitutes an average man. The can
didate wants to know what the
average voter thinks. The grocer
wants to know what the average
housewife wants to cook. A few
merchants will cater only to what
the discriminating person will buy,
but most merchants want to know
what the average person will buy.
Frequently published in widely
read periodicals are quizzes, ques-
tionaires and subjective tests by
which the reader is led to believe
that he can evaluate himself and
determine the extent to which he
might vary from the average. The
test might be designed to measure
average husbands, average effici-
ency of housewives, average intel
ligence, average social adjustment
or anything else subject to being
averaged. After carefully and con-
scientiously answering all the
questions and turning to Page q
to see the results, perhaps all too
many of us are satisfied to ascer-
tain that at least we are average.
We must guard against permit
ting the average to become a goal
or an ideal. Being average simply
means that one is better than the
worst and certainly not as good
as the best.
Mechanically speaking, the law
of averages is a great thing. 1t
has enabled man to calculate the
happening of events with reason
able accuracy and to derive there
from laws of probability that have
made possible the building Of
great businesses such as insurance.
The law of averages is a great aid
in business, but We should not per-
nit it to become the instrument to
chart the course of civilization and
progress. When applied to hu-
man beings and such priceless pos
sessions as the rights of man,
averages can be misleading. If ten
men are in certain group and
nine of them are slaves and only
one is a free man, their individual
stations are vastly different. If re-
duced to an average, however, each
of the nine slaves is ten percent
free, and the one free man is nine
ty percent slave.
We might we'll view with some
alarm present tendencies to reduce
to an average mans lot in this
life. Much of the philosophy and
many Of the activities of the Unit
ed Nations and its numerous auxi-
liary agencies seem to be based
upon the assumption that uniform
ity is a desired goal within itself;
that taking away from those that
have and giving to those that have
less will cure many of the worlds
ills. That the lowly can be lifted
by pulling down the higher is a
viewpoint the soundness of which
is open to serious and vigorous
challenge. If our goal is merely
to achieve the average, we reduce
our ideals from the highest and
begin to strive toward something
that is only halfway up. We cease
to hitch our wagon to a star and
become satisfied to tie it to fence
post. Our sights are zeroed IN on
the mediocre.
1t was not just an average ideal
that conceived this nation. 1t was
not average perseverance that sur
vived Valley Forge. They were not
average men who assembled at
Philadelphia in 1887 and fashioned
our Constitution. 1t was not an
average idea that stunned the
world with a concept of freedom
and opportunity never dreamed OF
by ordinary men nor countenanced
by ordinary monarchs. 1t was an
above-average concept of freedom
that gave the average man the
right and the incentive to set his
goal as high as the highest and to
work toward bettering his own
position unimpeded by a tyranni-
cal government. 1t was this ex-
traordinary idea of freedom that
gave the average man a chance to
hoist himself above whatever and
wherever he was.
Extraordinarily clever people are
assiduously and insidiously trying
to destroy this political climate
that encourages self-help, ambition
high ideals and all those things
that enable man to be a fit image
of his Maker. They would take
awav the ideal of rising higher II
| favor of the lesser goal Of levehne
out.
It is indeed disastrous to the In
centiye and ambition of a person
| of high ability to know that tint
gains he makes above average viii
be taken away. 1t is equally dis'
astrous, but in somewhat differ
emit way, to the incentive and am
t:t;o,, ~ a person of less ability