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k~.:y.~
or not hurry
y ui t~o:
so la:.L Lo
make tha t grcen light or !>top a l thc
storc li kc hc\1 intcnded - a who lc
ho~ L
of id ea about
cvc nt~
wh ich
could havc
plac~.:d
him in the fa teful
in tc rseclion ci the r ahead or. or
:-.afcl\ bchinu. that othcr car.
W~
all
~pccu l a t c
aboul wha l
\\C
ca ll '"fa te."' And soon. in our man¡.
rna ny lit tle fai lures. Oll r
frust ra t iOI~S
and "'not quite:-... we ju:-.t
re~ign
our–
seh es Lo our ··fate...
ivlo~t
pcople are fairly phi losop hi–
cal aboul failure. Thcy
~hrug
their
shouldcrs in varying dcg rees of ac–
cc ptancc. Somc are even sccmingly
wntent with it. Thcsc
an:
thc na tu–
ra l
cnemie~
and scoll"ers of the rich.
To such a pcrson. a nyonc with
" money" j us t '"gol thc brcaks." but
ncve r. neve r carncd it.
He" ll usually be q uite an author–
it) on :-ucccss even though he
doesn't ha\·c 111l1Ch Of il.
1
n fael. it is
a
n~.:ve r-en d
ing sourcc or amaze–
mcn t th at the lowcr the amount or
succes ·. the more aut horita tivc. a ll–
kno,,·ing. perceptivc. and ' ' isc the
person "ill appcar to be.
o r course. ma ny coul d !>ay some–
nnc has LO be the common laborc rs
of the wo rld an d. or coursc. ma ny
\\' ill agrce. And noth ing i. wrong
with work. nor \\ith carpcntry.
plumbing. elect ri cal engincering. or
truck clriving. They ccn a inly ca n be
ve¡y.fú!fll!inp, occupations!
But unl ess aman is cha ll cnged bv
:.uch jobs and llnd · thcm e:cit ing.
t imulaling. and rewa rdi ng. then
he\ only ··mark ing time" in anot her
of those ··not qui tes.''
Too many people have had to
··ge t a job' ' instead of dcve loping
thcir God-gi,cn ta lcnt!> into an oc–
cupa ti on!
But we
gro'~
conditioncd to fail–
ure. Even in the wo rl d a l la rgc. >ve
see fa ilure. Wc'rc told . sagely. thal
' 'e must grow accustomed Lo living
somcwhcre in the awful and un–
th in kable a rca between a war which
m
u~t
nevcr be fough t and a peace
wh ich ca n neve r be won. We'rc so
¡,ca red of the bomb. we simply ig–
nore it. Somc have accepted the
story tha t t hl.! bomb is a good thing.
ami tha t its awesome kill ing power
- fifty times more tha n necessary
fo r annihi la ting a ll ma nk inu - is
what is prevcnting wa r.
Even in worl d ncws and world
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976
condit i on~.
mo'>L or us a re condi–
tioncd lO fa il urc.
And it ha ppens i
11
o ur sta te elec·
tiom. our local counti es. anu our
school boards. lt
~oon
bcgins hap–
p~.!ning
with our chi ld ren and in our
closest companions.
The Age of Noninvolvement
But. we n;a.,on. th cre's noth ing we
can uo about it all. Each of LIS has
dcciued we're onl) onc pcrson. and
thcrcfore so in flni tcly helples .
We know many of the wrongs
around us. Aft er alL wc livc with
them da ily. Wc sce th c tcns ion in
the Mi ueasl and thc polit ical brib–
er) and chicanery in thc United
Swte~ .
Dai ly. we rcad in ou r papers
of the hugc problcms of the world 's
governmcnts.
Probably. we havc a certai n a l!i–
LUdc Lowa rd cach o ne of thcm: an
opinion. BLI Lhc rc it stops. Wc lorm
an ..
a l ti t ud~.!."'
We conj ure up an
" id ea." And tha t. in itsclf. in our
meu ioc re world. scems q uite suf–
ficicn l.
But a priva te philosophy of a bar–
bc r. a n e lcctr ica l cngineer. a
plumber. or evcn a corporatc exccu–
tivc or airlinc pilot cl oe!>n't change
the world.
l t'::. gro' ' n Lo the poi nt tha t world
conditions secm to LIS about likc the
wcat her. lt's somcth ing cverybody
ta lks a lot about. but never docs
anything about.
Our poli tical leadcrs havcn ·t
hc lpcd much.
Bu t thcn. that\ the ,,·ay of lead–
ers. T hey can hard ly prom isc tota l
so lutio ns when not thoroughly un–
ders ta nding t he p rob lems. No
leadcr. in hi ri ght mine!. wil l prom–
ise solution ·. Hc' ll speak of ·'pro–
grams'' and "progres!>." He' ll ta lk of
"S tud ies" and " mcth ods." Hc' ll even
men ti on thc usua l workaday terms
or peacc. safe ty. prosperity or at–
Lacks on poven y. But he will not
promise an end to crimc and vio–
lcncc. nor an end to racc ha tred. nor
an end Lo war:. in thc world.
He cannot!
Becausc he only cont ro ls a por–
tion of gove rnment. He does not
cont rol human nature.
Soon. th cn. rhe '· not qu ite ... of us
simply resign ou rsclves LOthe vague,
·' living fo r the moment" allitudc of
thc res! of us. Our "wa iting'' posture
is a lways e\·icl ent. We' re wai ti ng for
a better da) in the \vo rl d. a clea nu p
in the ncighborhood. and le:.scn ing
or laxes. We" re wa it ing for a ra ise.
or a chancc Lo movc. or for thc
wcat her lo clcar. l3ut alway!> wc·rc
wa iti ng. Wa iti ng and \\'aiti ng.
So enter comp romisc. Enter non–
invo lvcment. Mos t of us find out
soon cnough that th c way Lo make
th ings work for
u~
in our own envi–
ronmenl is Lo avoid ge ui ng '"i n–
' olved" i n some novel or
rcvolu tiona ry thi ng.
Wha t about it? Do you recog ni1..c
thc waiting postu rc in yourscll'? Ca n
you thi nk of thc do1..cns of thi ngs
you've yea rn cd LOdo and LO expc ri –
encc. an d yet acknowledged that
you ncver will?
l3eli eve it or not. this vague frus–
tra t ion - th is recli ng of ··nol qu ite"
i!:>
one or the most importan!
causes of unhappincss in lifc ! lt has
brokcn up ma rri agcs. rui ned busi–
nc:-.ses. thwa rted education. sha t–
tcrcd romance. and even cau ed
su icide.
u~ually .
it's milder than thal.
Mosl pcople ju. t find
way~
to live
wit h the " not t¡uites.'' Thcy keep
th in king "somc day... "Some uay...
thcy tcll
themselve~.
they ·11 rea l!y
gct busy and cut down on the ir
cl rink ing habits. widen thei r circlc of
fr icnds. and trim off that ugly wa ist–
lin c.
But they nevc r do.
Why Most Give Up
Let's face it. most people live acci–
dent a lly. You probab ly don' t know
anyonc who has planned, se t a goa l.
a nd th en pa tt erncd hi li fe. Most
people take life a it comes to them
- haphaza rd ly. accidenta lly. wit h–
out long-range thought or planni ng.
T hat's why the maj ority fo llows
wherc the leaders lead.
Leaders must plan and have goal!>
and purposes. Hi tory proves mo t
of those goa ls and purposes have
been incredibly seltish. ancl tha t th c
leaders of th e world - not thc " litt le
people·· a ffli cted wi th th e " not
qu ites" - have produced a nuclear
s ta lcmate. Th ey have crea tcd a
wo rld fraugh t with more problem
of more far-reachi ng and profo und
conscq uences th an ever - a wo rl d
armcd Lo the tccth wi th hydrogen
bombs and missi lcs and stil l di -
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