Living Geometry

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1909

“THINGS which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.” That is a familiar statement in school-book geometry, and so simple that any one can at once see the truth and reason of it. Yet it is not merely a truth for school; it applies to real life.

So it impressed one young student, who, in studying his geometry, came upon this axiom, and was struck with a new meaning he had never seen in it before. He had, like most boys, a hero, and for some time had been wishing he were like a certain young man who seemed to him the type of all that was good and manly. He had even tried to imitate him, but not, it must be said, with very great success.

But here was a suggestion. “Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.” Why not work that out? It must be true of persons as well as of things. He finally reasoned it like this: His hero friend was good because he seemed in many ways to be like Christ; then if he himself could be more like Christ, it would follow that he would be more like his friend. He had been looking at the wrong ideal first; and he saw now that if he looked first to Christ, and took him as his ideal and hero, he would become more like his friend, because he would have the same standard of character, the same pattern to follow. It would be easier and better to take the original example first; then the two copies would be more like each other.

There is very good reasoning in that; don’t you think so? It is a practical way of making your geometry live.—The Wellspring.