University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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J. BEN ROBINSON, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. Bean of the School of Dentistry

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ADMINISTRATION

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The Value of an Ideal THE successful man ' s achievements are frequently credited to objective factors of external life which have operated to his advantage. Good fortune is regarded as having played a prominent part in bringing him into proper relation with favorable situations. He is regarded as lucky and the masses envy him his position. A closer study of the great men of history will convince one that achievement depends more upon subjective factors than circumstances of environment. Men succeed because of themselves, because of definite traits of character rather than by legerdemain or by clever manipulation or by sheer good fortune. The successes of the great are not measured in terms of goods and possessions. True success means more than material holdings; it means spiritual power and the effects of this power as it operates to benefit mankind. One must be motivated by worthy ideals and purposes of a high order to achieve results of merit. Read again Hawthorne ' s beautiful narrative, the Great Stone Face. Note the populace ' s applause for the alleged successful individual — of the great Gathergold whose supposed greatness declined with his fading fortune; of Old Blood and Thunder who passed on and was soon forgotten when there were no further conquests; of the politician, Old Stoney Phiz, whose sun set with the departure of his vacillating followers; and of the great poet who had missed the finer things in life because his heart was not truly attuned to infinite principles; and finally of the humble boy who grew to manhood and who fulfilled a great prophesy because he accepted standards of unselfish living and high ideals of service which developed a great soul. This is a beautiful and engaging testimonial to the value of an ideal. Or, revert if you will, to the Ephebic Oath, that pledge accepted and followed by the Athenian youth with such success that the classical Greek civilization became the foundation of every element of the great modern civilization which we enjoy. It is but another example of the value of an ideal inculcated as a spiritual truth and practiced as a virtue. Sometimes the neophyte is deluded by the thought that material possessions bring greatest satisfaction. The one slaves for the dollar and his life is circumscribed by it; the other finds greatest compensation in the pleasure which he derives from tasks well done and a life measured bv usefulness to others. Young men entering upon the practice of dentistry should set up ideals of service, and cultivate their sense of duty, so that their achievements may be reflected in the future of the profession. The future worth and importance of dental service will be proportionate to the ideals which direct the young men of today. By Dean J. Ben Robinson, Selected