A Straight Line…

We recall once more the mathematical maxim that “a straight line is the shortest distance between two points.” In a day when so many people find themselves paying a price for forgetting it, this rule of life would well be unforgettably remembered.

In the first place, in forgetting it, there follows the factor of inefficiency—for a person who departs from a straight course almost inevitably carries on a conversation with his conscience. And a person who is carrying on a conversation with his conscience can’t be very efficient. It is difficult to do two things at once, for any of us. And if we have our minds on things we shouldn’t have done, we aren’t so effectively thinking of the things we should be doing. Uneasiness within always adversely affects efficiency.

Then there is also the question of the ability to turn back. There is a time, to begin with, in the decisions of all of us, when right or wrong is only a matter of one step—a step straight forward, or a side step. But the farther we go on any wrong road, the more time we lose, and the more costly it is to turn back. It was Montaigne who remarked that “the births of all things are weak and tender, and therefore we should have our eyes intent on beginnings.”⁹³

The beginnings of habits are small and weak. The beginnings of falsehoods are small and weak. The “little” compromises of honesty, the “little” forms of cheating, the small infractions of law, the unauthorized “borrowing” (so-called) of something that isn’t ours, the inconspicuous little lie—all such beginnings, all such departures from a straight line, may seem insignificant at first, but, if unchecked, they move to the point where turning back is difficult and costly (but not nearly so costly as not turning back!)

Happiness is the aim and object of all of us, and there simply isn’t any sincere and satisfying happiness to be found, there isn’t any way to peace of mine, except to move straight forwardly forward, with truth and integrity, and with no apology to make any man, or to the Father of us all, or to us, inside ourselves. In matters of character and conduct, as well as I mathematics, a straight line is the shortest short cut—the shortest distance between two points.