Article September 21, 1929 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Horton, John Q. Adams, Helen Keller

[Editorial in the New Outlook, Toronto, Ontario, Canada]

One of life's difficult tasks is that of learning to accommodate ourselves to those with whom we are working; and it is a lesson which some of us never learn. It is seldom easy, and yet it is most necessary. Our best work is possible only when we have the cooperation of others, and the community can never do its best work unless it can secure the hearty cooperation of all its different units. Whether it be in the school, the factory, the church, or the home, the best results are attainable only when there is largest cooperation. But this means that the individual must subordinate himself, or herself, to others, for only so can they work together effectively. No one has a right to dominate all others; no one has a right to expect others to do just what he, or she, desires. The community is possible only when the units can be made to work harmoniously for a common end. If the team is to win it must play as a team. If the orchestra is to render its best service it must play as an orchestra, and the individual instrument must be lost in the whole. If we would do our best work we must learn how to labor with our neighbors so that the highest efficiency may be attained, and this is often hard to learn.

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