Editorial December 20, 1947 Issue

TAKING SIDES

Paul Stark Seeley

Many different viewpoints are entertained by mortals about many things from the weather and ladies' hairdos to religion and politics. This diversity of viewpoints sometimes provides an antidote for monotony, and sometimes it leads to contentions that undermine harmonious relationships in churches, homes, businesses, and nations.

If you analyze the wherefore of these diverse viewpoints on things trivial and vital, you will find they are due to the conviction held by mortals that each child and adult has a mind of his own which includes viewpoints of his own that are frequently in contrast with, or in opposition to, the views of others. As a result, likes and dislikes of things, ways, and persons develop, and the individual often takes sides in thought, if not in act, against those who differ from him.

This belief that each mortal has a mind and viewpoint of his own leads to the conclusion that some racial or national groups have mentalities so different from some others that they cannot appreciate the ideas of the latter, however worthy they may be. If these clashing views were to go on indefinitely, friction and strife would be perpetual; a harmonious order of existence would be an unattainable hope, and all the efforts to attain it would have to be put down as futile.

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