A Weary Distance; R. W. Demers

Distance back out into the hot sun as the dust from the departing auto drifted over the green crops. Because he was the man with the hoe, he had long since learned that it is futile to respond to such a comment; 'tis better to quietly re turn to that which he knows is more than "luck." Webster refers to lucky as : "happening by chance." The neigh bor's observation and subsequent statement are representative of a dangerous half-truth so prevalent these days. Perhaps he knows what many know who have no particular acquaintance with gardening: that the weather, the helpful or harm ful climate, is pretty much beyond man's control. Therefore, when he notices verdant crops, neat, order ly rows. abundant healthy growth, all representative of a bountiful harvest, he seizes upon this "ele ment of chance" and utters his half truth. The most important factor, 555 556 THE FREEMAN September which he has failed to grasp, has to do with the knowledge, industry, and application the gardener must put forth, and without which, good or bad weather notwithstanding, the crop would be a failure.

Orestes A. Brownson, in The American Republic in 1866, said the same thing, but in a little dif ferent way which broadens the per spective: Conception is always easier than its realization, and between the design and its execution there is always a weary distance. Remaining with the garden a little longer - little effort is ex pended as the garden is planned by the warm hearth during the cold winter months which precede the new birth of spring. But then the plot must b~ laid out, the soil fertilized and tilled, the seed sown and carefully watered, the weeds pulled again and.again, before the plan for the garden moves toward fulfillment. Meanwhile, time and energy, knowhow and tender care, and patience have come to repre sent "a weary distance." What does "a weary distance" mean? It means an extended period of time during which there has been an exhaustive expenditure of vigor, endurance, and freshness, an intensive acquisition and application of knowhow, and a diligent exercise of responsibility.

Leaving behind now the garden green, and considering in greater depth what makes "a weary dis tance," it is easy to see that here lies, seldom used and rusting away, a most successful formula. Despite this age of flip marriage and frequent divorce it seems ap propriate to seriously consider a more compatible marriage between "conception" (a general idea) and "realization" (the real accomplish ment) , between the idea man - the stem-winder - and the fellow who "gets the job done." Instead of continued subscrip tion to expediency, and obeisance to the false notion of the "easy way", there needs to be a recom mitment to the full assumption of responsibility, which inevitably means some element of sacrifice blended with just plain hard work. Continued infatuation with "chance" and "wishing will make it so" will mean continued failures. The present harvest of unchecked inflation, which is robbing every one - most shamefully the very young and the very old - is the direct result of the refusal to take the route of "a weary distance."

It is in this regard, that, as a peo ple, we need a baptism of common honesty. I) WasPlatoa COL VIST IDEAS have consequences, the late Richard Weaver was fond of re minding us; it is an argument dear to the heart of every student of liberty. And no ideas have so permeated Western intellectual history as have those of Plato. Indeed, the whole history of West ern thought, as Alfred North Whitehead suggested a few years ago, may be seen as a series of footnotes to Plato. It is, consequently, much to the embarrassment of many individ ualists that Plato is frequently claimed by collectivists as one of their own. The claim is doubly discomforting because individual ists are inclined to give much weight in their world-views to the place of tradition and ideas. Dr. Roberts teaches English literature in Boys' High School of The Westminster Schools, Atlanta, Georgia. JOHN J. ROBERTS The simple truth is that indi vidualists yield Plato to the col lectivist ranks all too acquies cently. The Plato known to most men, of course, is the author of the Republic, with his utopian pro posals for a strictly regulated so ciety under the benevolent mailed fist of a single philosopher-king.