Editorial January 22, 1977 Issue

The Radicalism That Fosters Moderation

Nathan A. Talbot

Thinking back over the last decade, one becomes acutely aware of the emphasis some have placed on acts of radicalism. Skyjacking, kidnapping, bombing, even assassinations, have been used as instruments to gain national or international attention. Some such acts are clear instances of men and women feeling driven to take extreme steps in forwarding what they believe to be a just cause.

In sharp contrast, Mrs. Eddy, a different kind of radical, was able to write: "Be temperate in thought, word, and deed. Meekness and temperance are the jewels of Love, set in wisdom. Restrain untempered zeal. 'Learn to labor and to wait.'" Retrospection and Introspection, p. 79;

A familiar act of radicalism, used time and again throughout the world, has been the taking and holding of hostages for ransom. Suppose a group of radicals were so moved by instances of poverty, even hunger, that they took hostages and demanded, from the public, food to feed the hungry. Even if thousands of hungry people were enabled to obtain free food, each, in a very crucial sense, would go unfed. And in the long run such radicals might well find that little had been accomplished for their cause.

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