Editorial November 11, 1922 Issue

The Ever Present "Now"

Ella W. Hoag

Were men to ask themselves how much regard they have for the "now," they would be forced to reply, Very little. Human thought is busy contemplating either a past or a future, mourning over some good which it feels has disappeared, or reaching forward to something it hopes to attain at some time yet to come. Now, the fact is that to look at existence from such a transitory viewpoint is to rob one of that which is stable and true, and to place one's feet on the shifting sands of mortal belief, where all is fleeting and unsatisfying. The ordinary method of regarding a past would argue for the evanescent nature of all things, good as well as evil. It would constantly torment with the belief that no good could continue, since from such a viewpoint good appears always temporary in its nature. This view looks forward to a future with a hope that some stability may be gained therein, only to find the future of to-morrow becoming the past of the day following, with its same fleeting tendencies. Thus human belief goes on in an ever vanishing line of an unsatisfactory past and a disappointing future, which is soon lost in the same hopeless past.

Whittier knew better than to think any good could cease to be, for he wrote:—

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
Resolutions
November 11, 1922
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit