Be Considerate

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 28, 1908

SOME of us have special gifts for seeing the evil that is in our neighbors. If some commendable trait in another is mentioned, we say, “Yes, but!” and then proceed to amplify the evil. It is hard, apparently, for many to proclaim the good in another and suppress the evil. And yet one of the sanest ways to defeat the worst that is in men is to praise them when they do well. The bad is bad no doubt, always and everywhere bad; but the good is still good. We discover this when our neighbor dies, and we are gathered at his funeral. We then exalt the good features of his life, and say nothing about the evil. “He had his good points.” And the minister dwells on that which is commendable. But it does not help the man in the coffin! Maybe he would have lived longer and died happier if we had come around with our praise a little earlier. “Ten thousand bad traits can not make a single good one any less good.”— United Presbyterian.