Salt Lake Telegram | 1929-07-07 | Page 21 | Value in Mankind Forgetting

9 Value in Mankind Forgetting l lI I 1 I IT T A MAY Y be true as Mark Ant Antony ny remarked i. i that hat m the e evil t that tt t men do 0 lives after th them l m t there ere are times when it seems e ms as if i th the oblivion establish a is to 1 surest w way y to fo win jr for wickedness t The other day the thc newspapers printed a 3 picture pi ture of a m mail n whom the last thirty years year h ve c vered With the v veil ot of obscurity Three d d decades cad s ago every American knew him and d despised him FI HU His name was wa a 1 sort of symbol sym f bol oi for for cruelty and ruthlessness Yet in in t th the e pt picture tur he vr was s. s fr frail ll looking apologetic stooped st with the fhe weight of hi his 90 y years ars Not would ha haVe hale ve one nc ric American in ten thousand r co him i i Who was he W r th t former r gov gov- general genet r-genet l of Cuba during the last tast days ays of the Spanish regime there the mart mad w we all aU bl b blamed ni m d a for the this miseries rleS and sufferings of that luckl luckless S island f. f r Thirty years years' is not a f lon longtime The men who cho fou fought hf in hi our our war with whit Spain pain a are e still f for th the niost part h hale e and h ht hearty th There re art are r soldiers and sailors on Olt active service who I Can can wear th the c campaign r ribbons bb ns o of that th t c con con- nid flidr Yet Weyler has b been e t completely for- for 1 gotten We h hardly hdtv remember r that we shuddered at the d deeds eds' eds that w were re attributed t to him f Part art aft of this perhaps may b be lie du due to o the f fact r that tha Weyler was accused sed of ma many y t things that l he did not do Th There re has to be tic a villain in every very war and nd this Spaniard rd was as admirably cast for th the part Yet there ther is more to it than that It It would seem i in iii fact act that thai tile me race is is' is f. f not very interested in r remembering its vil- vil y Iain It H is quite willing 1 to te let let the men melt ha have wronged wronged it drop out ut of f sight I It does does- not ot like to ta think ab about th them v very ry tOi long bug g. g We may not have lave reached reached- d th the point wh where re we art are ready to for forgive ive our enemies n n. n mies but w do the next best thing att after r. r ail all we we forget about them Who remembers remembers' rs' rs the n name mc of the G German gen general ral who ordered Edith Cavell Caven shot shot- shot shotor or orthe r the skipper r of th the su submarine nt rine- rine thai torp torpedoed the or ani or or the English official who inflicted the Black and nd Tan terrorism on Ireland Ire Ire- land after after- fter th the w war r There Ther Was Was' a a. time tune when those names symbolized mill evil for all an of us and now now we cannot r recall can then 1 I V We are wiser probably than ie know The world is is' not quite as glad and blithe a a. place as as we might want ant it ih There Ther are ire ugly traits in human nature that pop to the surface sur sur- face face fac every so often and and cause suffering and death If we thought about bout them too tong we w v could easily sink into profound discouragement discourage discourage- rage rage- ment 1 s So we ye dont don't let ourselves remember too vell Unconsciously we make mak optimists of ourselves We force ourselves ourselves' to believe that human nature is ti finer er and and nobler than it n really is So without exactly Intending to to we have ourselves a standard to live u up to And y gradually age by age we wt move a little bit closer to j it It J