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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1925)
7 1925 j 3 MAY 8 The Chemawa American Printed at Chemawa, Vol. XXVI Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education Wednesday, January 21, 1925 A MASTER LIFE Abraham Lincoln said: “I am bound towin in what I attempt, but I am bound to be a man. I am bound to be true to the best I know. Any departure from this is contemptible cowardice.” Let us urge each one of our young readers to try and realize the necessity of making life a masterpiece, not so much on account of the results as on account of the effect upon your daily life. There is in the career of every human being a pos sible magnificent masterpiece, or a wretched distorted failure. Whichever it proves to be will be hung in civilization’s gallery. It will be exhibited to the world as the embodiment, the evidence, of that for which each life has stood. One’s career is not only an exhibit to the world, a contribution to civilization, but it is also our exhibit to our Maker, on account of that which wehave done with our talent—how we have invested it and the returns wehave gotten out of it. Young people, the sort of a man, the sort of a woman, you will make of youiselves, how you will be regarded by the world, whether people will admire and respect or despise you, whether you win the approval or condemnation of yourself—all this is in your own hands. No matter where your lot may be cast, no power on earth can keep you from making a man, a woman, of yourselves, superb characters—masterpieces. The size of your bank roll, the size of your house, the quality of your clothes, may be more or less an accident, but the size of the man or woman you will bring out of your career rests absolutely with you. This will not have to run the gauntlet of fire, of flood, of panic or disaster. It will not be subject to loss or ruin by change of location. There are people who seem to chink they are under no obligation to make life as complete, as successful as possible. But this is exactly, precisely, what we are here for—to evolve the real man or woman. We cannot be true to ourselves and shirk this obligation. Each one of you was placed here with a divine mes sage, to honor it royally, not to distort or mutilate it. The message is the work of a lifetime, the evolution of a superb manhood or womanhood, the grandest achievement of which a human being is capable. No. 14 You cannot make the most of yourselves until you look upon life as a magnificent possibility, the material for a great masterpiece, to mar or spoil which would be a tragedy. Without such an ideal, without an ambition to live the life triumphant, the life worth while, that which will call out the largest, most com plete, most superb man or woman one is capable of being, there rs no possibility of true success. The object of your vocation should not be merely a living-getting. This is only an inferior motive compared with the grander motive of making a life. Self-expression, self-enlargement, self-growth, the calling out of the man or the woman, the exercising of all one’s mind and body and soul—this should be the real meaning of an occupation The opportunity to be a man, a woman, the chance to unfold your powers; this is what your work should mean to each of you. The money you earn will afford you a very petty and mean satisfaction compared with that yielded by the opportunity of making such a superb character as will raise one’s manhood or womanhood to its highest possiblity. Life is a great university for the unfolding of the mind, for developing character. In choosing your life work remember this, and choose that which will call the biggest man or woman out of you, and not that from which you can always coin the most dollars. It does not matter so much how you earn your living, provided you do it honestly. Self-training, self-disci pline, self-improvement, the acquisition of personal power, should be your real aim. Making life a masterpiece does not necessarily mean that one mnst engage in some high profession, some great special work or learned calling. All honest labor is dignified and ennobling. It may sometimes be necessary to make a living on a lower level than that of your highest ideal, but at the same time you can, if you choose, also make a life. Whatever one’s voca tion, one is always free to invest in that which will make one a larger, broader, nobler being, that which in the long run will be infinitely more valuable than many investments in stocks and bonds. No matter what your occupation, though it be wash- (Continued on page 4)
