Article July 27, 1935 Issue

"A good sport"

[Written Especially for Young People]

CORALYN DOOLITTLE BERTLE

The race has been called! All preliminary arrangements and preparations have been made! The contesting boats are vibrating and pulsating in eagerness to speed forward! The signal sounds. The race is on. Every pilot uses to the utmost his ability, intelligence, and strength, and the skill which his training and experience have taught him. When the race is over, and the victory is won, the contestants greet one another in the spirit of true sportsmanship, and the losers as well as the winner are pronounced "good sports," according to the spirit they express.

In the material realm there is a belief of constant change, unrest, and struggle; constant combat with adverse elements. It is like a continuous race for supremacy, position, and power. On the other hand, in the realm of the real there is no race; everything in God's universe in its place, changeless and eternal. There is nothing beyond illimitable infinity, where all is perfect and complete. Therefore, there can be no race or combat; nor can there be any competition, where all reflect God's perfection, God's completeness.

The sense of human existence is as a race in which each individual is a contestant, not one against another, but against the opposing forces of evil and materiality. In this race, the student of Christian Science knows himself as a child of God, and he is striving to rise above the material beliefs which cause struggle, such as pettishness, selfishness, animosity, hatred, and jealousy—all of which are expressions of self-will or willfulness. It might be said that he is trying to be "a good sport"; but rather is he proving the real self, which is always victorious. There are no failures for Truth.

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