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Show AN EDITORIAL entitled "The Parable of the Runt" which appeared in the New Castle Courier-Times, New Castle, Indiana, carries a mes )ge that is worthy of consideration throughout the nation. na-tion. It reads: , "Once upon a time in a neigh-1 neigh-1 borhood not far from here there was a runt who liked to play ball with the other fellows on the corner lot. , "He was perhaps a year or so j younger, his short legs didn't carry ! him so fast around the bases, and ! his arms were not so long in reach- ing for the balls. "Now, there was nothing wrong j with his vocal facilities, and he com-! com-! plained long and loud to the other ; boys that he was being treated un- fairly. He kept at them until they j finally agreed that he should have ', four strikes at bat as a sort of ! handicap. , "Well, the summer passed and . other summers came and went, and the runt grew into a big, strapping 6-footer. His arms and legs were as long as the other boys' and he ' could hit the ball as well as any of them, but do you think he would give up his four strikes at bat? "No, sir. That was his by right. "He is a grown man now. The corner lot has a building on it, and there aren't any more ball games there, but he's still demanding four strikes at bat. "He's a businessman who seeks special privilege from the legislature. legisla-ture. "He's a laborer who wants pay for days he doesn't work. "He's a farmer who takes Government Gov-ernment checks for things he doesn't raise. "Life is just a big lollipop. AJ! privileges and no responsibilities. "Like the runt, we forget that foi every privilege, somebody must assume as-sume a responsibility. "A home in which everybody likes to eat but nobody wants to work is headed for financial and mora) bankruptcy. So is such a nation. "Only as we render services and accept responsibility in our home are we entitled to its privileges, and it is the same in any group; the place where we work, the community commu-nity in which we live, and the world at large. "Isn't it about time we began to appreciate the things that other folks do for us; the teacher who endures en-dures and inspires our children; the boss who spends a lot of sleepless nights making the businesses go that provides us with a good job; the employe who is proud ol his work and sees it through; the wife who puts up with all our little peculiarities and binds our wounds at the end of a discouraging day; a God who pours out his mercy beyond be-yond anything we deserve. "Only as we are thankful for all that is done for us and accept our responsibilities shall we overcome the childish notion that we are entitled en-titled to four strikes at bat and stand before God and our own conscience con-science as a man in all that tee word implies." From the Canton Independent-Sentinel, Independent-Sentinel, Canton, Fa.: "Life has no secrets that a teenager teen-ager can't read about in some of the magazines offered for sale." j |
