p. 16 | Impulse or Principle by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 3, 1909

Impulse or Principle.

By Editor

It has been remarked by a daily paper that it is a sad, sad fact that humanity is touched more by spectacular troubles than by the common, every-day sort. There is suffering on every side in our own land, and yet we go on day after day without feeling it or thinking about it. A great disaster occurs in Italy, South America, the West Indies, and the world's treasury is open, and the world's steamships are chartered for the purpose of relieving the wants of those who suffer. Really, is our sympathy true sympathy after all? Is not the very truest sympathy that which is touched by the nameless suffering that is going on all around us on every side, and many times voiceless suffering, of those who suffer uncomplainingly, which, if our own hearts were sensitive enough, we could see and feel ourselves? These examples of devotion and generosity in times of great calamity are good as far as they go. The great need is that they shall be made habits, but habits can only come from inborn principle. These generous outbursts are often the result of mere impulse. Still the fact that they are so spectacular, leads the world to overestimate them. In the development of our character, what we should aim at after all, is the constant doing of right things, and the following of noble principles rather than yielding to the impulse of the moment. The meteor's flash is a startling thing, but the constant, steady shining of the star is better.