p. 24 | Carelessness by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 17, 1916

Carelessness

By G. B. T.

THE following excerpt, clipped from the National Cash Register Bulletin, emphasizes in a very forceful manner the awful toll of carelessness:—

“I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world.

“I have destroyed more men than all the wars of the world.

“I am more deadly than bullets, and I have wrecked more homes than the mightiest of siege guns.

“I steal in the United States alone, over $300,000,000 each year.

“I spare no one, and I find my victims among the rich and poor alike; the young and the old, the strong and the weak, widows and orphans, know me.

“I loom up to such proportions that I cast my shadow over every field of labor from the turning of the grindstone to the moving of every train.

“I massacre thousands upon thousands of wage earners in a year.

“I lurk in unseen places, and do most of my work silently. You are warned against me, but you heed not.

“I am relentless. I am everywhere—in the homes, on the street, in the factory, at all railroad crossings, and on the sea.

“I bring sickness, degradation, and death, and yet few seek to avoid me.

“I destroy, crush, or maim; I take all, but give nothing.

“I am your worst enemy.

“I am CARELESSNESS.”

And this fearful wreckage of carelessness is not confined alone to this world, to this life, or to material things. Its ruin and desolation are seen in religious matters, and reach into the eternal ages. Men carelessly play with the pearl of eternal life. They toss it about as if it were a thing of little value, expecting perhaps some day to secure the gift. But the opportunities are carelessly squandered, and at last they sit amid the desolate ruins of a wasted life, where the worm of remorse gnaws incessantly.

The twin of Carelessness is Neglect. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. 2:3.

G. B. T.