On Being at Our Best

Perhaps most of us give way at times to actions and attitudes and utterances which we would not ordinarily approve in ourselves or in others. But whenever we depart from our most acceptable selves, we must remember that there are at least two things for which we are constantly accountable: One is the effect our attitudes and actions have on us, and the other is the effect our attitudes and action shave on others. Especially should we be mindful of the effect of our actions and utterances on young and impressionable people. By the time we have arrived at maturity, we ourselves may have acquired a solid set of standards from which we may not feel there is much danger of departing very far, and to which it may seem rather easy to return⎯and we may think that occasional small departures don’t matter much. But while our less acceptable performances may for us be only passing departures, the impressions we implant in others may be permanent. Many a man who has said and done things that didn’t seem to him to change his own well-settled standards has found that the example of his words and his ways has changed his children, and may have led them to permanent departures. Of course, we may presume the privilege of temporary departure from principle, we may presume that it is all right for us who are older to say and to do things that those who are younger shouldn’t say and do. But what an adult does⎯what anyone does⎯had better be good for those who depend upon him to set the pace, because others are influenced as much by us when we are at our worst as they are when we are at our best. For this reason, if for no other, it is important to be at our best.