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Concerning Preferences

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 59.

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Concerning Preferences

A LITTLE girl was showing me her best hat one day not long ago. The hat never was trimmed with pink ribbon.
“Pink is my favorite color,” said the little girl.
“It is a very good color to have for a favorite,” I said.
The little girl looked down at her coat, which was blue. “Blue is my favorite color, too,” she remarked.
At that moment a girl friend in a red dress came along.
“Red is my favorite color, too,” the little girl added.
“You have a great many favorite colors,” I suggested.
“Yes,” she agreed, “I have; any bright color is my favorite color.”
She is an eager, happy, merry child. “She gets a lot of fun out of life,” her mother says. She does; and I am inclined to think it is because “any bright color is her favorite color.” There are a number of bright colors; so many that one, at least, is almost certain always to be within her range of vision. If she liked only pink, or blue, or red, or any one bright color, she would miss a great deal of innocent satisfaction.
I have a friend who has a garden in which a great variety of flowers grow; from April to October that garden is full of blossoms. “You seem to like to grow all kinds of flowers,” I heard some one say to her recently, “while I enjoy cultivating only my favorites.”
“Favorite flowers!” exclaimed my friend; “but I assure you I do raise my favorite flowers.”
“Why, you have no favorite flowers,” said the neighbor in surprise.
“Oh, yes, I have,” my friend returned. “Every flower is my favorite flower.”
She has a beautiful garden, that friend. Long before, and long after, and often in between times, when her neighbor’s garden has no flowers in it at all, or only a few blossoms, my friend’s garden is a riot of color and fragrance. It is easy to see why—every flower is her favorite flower.
Does not something similar happen in connection with preferences touching more important matters? Does not the man whose favorite author is any good author read more books than the man whose favorite author is some one particular person? Does not the woman whose favorite child-friend is every child-friend have a happier and fuller experience of childhood than the womanwhose favorite child is some one particular little boy or girl? And in the realm of manners and morals, does not the person whose favorite virtue or favorite courtesy is every virtue and every courtesy, both give more and receive more than the person whose favorite virtue or favorite courtesy is only one particular thing? In short, does not the person who likes and enjoys all good things get more fun out of life than the person whose preferences are more limited?—Home Progress.