Tennessee Wesleyan College - Nocatula Yearbook (Athens, TN)

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PRESIDENTS PHILOMATHEAN LITERARY SOCIETY FRED WHITEHEAD Fall Term CHARLES MEHAFFEY Winter Term JOHNSON TOWNLEY Spring Term KNIGHTONIAN LITERARY SOCIETY VALERIA OGLE Fall and Winter Terms CHELSEA LAWS Spring Term (Continued From Preceding Page I ly, in telling how the citizen ' s debt may be paid I choose to take the can attitude rather than the should attitude. Though there is no definite point where a citizen ceases to be a debt to society or where he begins to pay back what he has borrowed, in general the time of debt-making belongs to youth and the time of debt-paying to maturity. The citizen ' s first debt is to the home. He can pay it by actively pursuing an honest vocation. As only three out of every ten in the United States work, and as these three must support themselves and seven others, it is easy to see how any avoidance of duty here would play havoc with the na- tion ' s welfare. The debt to the school closely follows. With the late ex- pansion of school curricula to include things formerly taken care of by the home, such as, physical training, manual train- ing, domestic science, and religious training, the responsibili- ty of the citizen to the school increases. The citizen can meet this debt by givmg his time or money. He will realize tlra latter means when the time comes to pay his taxes. Often an opportunity for canceling part of the debt to so- ciety comes in the form of small jobs regarding civic beauty. It may be to plant a few flowers, to keep the street clean in front of the house, to mend a hole in the pavement, or to take care of the trees. Regarding attitude toward law, the citizen can accept the siatu.es whether he likes them or not. He can respect the officials for the office they hold if not for their own strength of character. He can discourage all forms of fun which mock the law by not engaging in them himself. Regarding the operations of the government, the citizen can support all efforts to secure an economical administration cf ti e affairs of the community. He may willingly serve on a jury when the time comes that he is needed. He may re- port all law breakers whether they are akin or dear to him or not. He may strive to keep honest men in public offices by carefully studying the records of the men running for the jobs and by being strictly honest in his voting. He may spend seme of his odd moments in finding out how his gov- ernment works if he does not know, and if he does, he may explain it to someone who does not. He can take off a few minutes from the reading of the murder scandal or the sport events to follow the actions of the legislators he has helped to elect. He can refuse to join his neighbors in pulling for a road that is neded in some other community worse than in his own. Or, when the time comes that no person can fill a particular public office quite as well as he himself, the citizen may put himself to some inconvenience just to serve his community and country. The citizen can be tolerant about other people ' s idiosyn- crasies, realizing that there is no 100 per cent citizen, yet acknowledging that in the midst of an imperfect people can be icund wonderful examples of loyalty and gentleness as aptly illustrated by the life of the late Capt. William Rule, in whose memory this essay is written. The responsibility of world-wide citizenship the citizen may realize reaches his every-day life and may be met by at- tending to little tasks of which the still small voice of his conscience tells him, He may not forget that ideas brought together in a mechanical fashion about the mid-night hour by the essay writer do not always contain workable sugges- tions, rvd that ideals toward which he intends to work must be sought out by his own deliberate thinking. And most of all, the citizen may not forget that in a moral sense he is a steward of all God has lent him and that all must be re- turned with inter est. THOMAS MILLIGAN. 22

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THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITIZENSHIP Winner of 1st Prize in the Wm. Rule Essay Contest • For none of us liveth to himself and no wan dieih to him- self. — Paul. Because of the lack of responsiveness on the part of most people, for ages it has been the habit of reformers to go to extremes in presenting their ideas. With this fact in mind, it behooves me to try to guard against writing of ideals that only perfect beings can carry out. John Jay well expressed the idea I have when he said, I do not expect mankind will, before the millennium, be what they ought to be; and there- fore, in my opinion, every political theory which does not re- gard them as be ' nj what they are will prove abortive. The responsibility of citizenship is not very different from any other responsibility. In every case of accountability there is a giver and a person to whom something is entrusted. In a sense, the giver becomes a creditor and the receiver a debt- or. Hence, at once appear two general aspects of the re- sponsibility of citizenship. The first concerns the making of a debt and the second concerns the paying of that debt. A child has no choice but to become a debt to society; the debt has been made before he is given a chance to decide whether or not he chooses to be under ob- ligation. However, the decision about mak- ing with the govern- ment what Roosevelc called a square deal is up to the citizen himself. Though a person is not born with the power to perform voluntary acts, and as Woodworth, the psychologist, says, Ob- viously he cannot imag- ine an act till he has had experience of that act. he does gain the power progressively till at length he assumes practically all of the responsibility for his mental and physical welfare. This is an age of extended credit in the business world. As a matter of fact, almost anything from a farm to a pair of shoes may be bought on time. The idea of suspicion an J distrust is less obvious than it has been in times past, and today a man no sconer hears that his faetory has burned to the ground than he begins plans for borrowing money to re- build. Such a liberal policy as this should not only be true in business but in civic matters as well. There being no oth- er way of paying the debt to society except by first becoming more indebted, the citizen need not hesitate to take the best that his home and community offer in wealth and comfort. True it is, the more he takes the more he owes, but again the better prepared he is to solve society ' s problems the easier it is for him to meet his debt. Our talents in the form of opportunities for wealth, reli- gious freedom, and free schooling in this country have not been given us to hide in a napkin for fear of assuming re- sponsibility for the outcome, but rather that they may be re- turned to the giver with usury. Perhaps our greatest op- portunity is that cf training in the school for citizenship. As OLD CHAPEL Dunn says, Education is not only a privilege; it is a duty, because every citizen owes it to his community to equip him- self to render the best citizenship possible. Why, sociolo- gists tell us that the best way of caring for the feeble-minded is in sending them to school! According to Walter R. Smith, Education is not only the kindliest but the cheapest way of dealing with all sorts of un-normal children. Then will not education pay in case of the normal child? Our country hus not yet reached its capacity in supporting educational ad- vances. Statistics show that the amount of money spent in 1920 for tobacco and cigarette holders exceeded the expen- diture for public education by more than 800 million dollar- The amount spent annually for insurance is twice that for public education. Until our masses and our legislators are convinced that education comes before idle pleasure and un- til everyone is willing to sacrifice tremendously for the ad- vance of education, so long will we have poverty of thought and lack of ideals in this blessed land. We are told that the freedom of speech and press, the right to plead for redress of grievances, protection while trav- eling in a foreign country, the privilege of possessing arms domestic security, and a fair trial in the courts are points of advantage which our government guarantees to its citizens over the rule of the savages. We boast of liberty and free- dom. Are we free? Should we like to be at liberty to do anything whatever we pleased? Ruskin wisely points out. Throughout the world, of the two ab- stract things, liberty and restraint, restraint is al- ways the more honor- able. After a second thought we may not want complete liberty. The restraint which our government gives to the citizen is covered in the debt that is thrust upon him, which debt he is asked to increase and to pay. No doubt many of the peo- ple of America who have secured naturalization papers cr who have been born in this country, for that matter, are really without a country and are unworthy to sing Mv Country ' Tis of Thee. To be a loyal citizen requires more than standing when the Star Spangled Banner is played. This requires complete settlement of the debt one contracts, and perhaps a little more. Just as people hate to be dunned for a grocery bill, so do they hate to be reminded of a civic debt. And in case of the latter debt, part of the payment is often avoided by the adop- tion of a way of thinking in which the ' citizen is every- body in general and nobody in particular. It seems hardly necessary to say that when debts are not paid the creditor inevitably loses out, but many forget the fact. Just as the positive forms of commandments are more impressive than the negative forms, so I think the power of suggestion is stronger than that of command; consequenc- (Continued On Next Page) 21

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