If All Men Were Honorable

It is sometimes said that the world would be a peaceful place except for the confusion caused by humankind. To a great degree this is no doubt true. While there is still violence in nature, we have learned to control much that is essential to our comfort and convenience, and for us the earth is a relatively peaceful and provident place except where man meets man in misunderstanding and in unbecoming conduct. Our most pressing problems are concerned with the appetites, the personalities, and the perversities of men. All through life it would seem there are some whom we fear, some against whom we feel we have to protect ourselves. There are some men except for whom we could leave the locks off our doors, some except for whom there would be no need of bank vaults and burglar alarms, some except for whom we could dispense with police and prisons, some except for whom we could do away with armies and armaments. And it is interesting to contemplate how heaven-like it could be on earth if all men were honorable, if all men were even reasonably honest. Indeed, it might well be difficult for our minds to imagine any greater happiness than there could be on this earth with all its beauty, with all its providence, with all its possibilities, if all men would respect each other as they themselves would like to be respected. Of course there are those who say that this old and golden rule won’t work. And people who advocate it are sometimes said to be impractical people. But speaking of being impractical what is more impractical than millions of other men from doing what simply honesty would keep them from doing? What is more inefficient than having half the people police the other half? What is more impractical than the destruction of war? Regrettably the principles and the ideals of the Prince of Peace do not at present prevail among men. But one day they will. And what greater happiness could the mind of man imagine than a place of such beauty as this earth, in peace and in providence, with all people respecting the privileges, the property, and the persons of all other people?