Against the World

In the scriptural account it was said of Ishmael, before he was born: “His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.” There are some people who remind us of this⎯people who are against the world and who think that the world is against them. But there are some things that all honest men are against: Our thoughts, our voices and our feelings are surely against evil, against brutality, persecution and oppression. We are, of course, against waste and inefficiency, indecision, corruption, disloyalty to trust, against loose-living, evil-thinking, injustice. We are against every malady, every difficulty, every trouble, every malpractice and every evil on earth. But perhaps it is time to remind ourselves that it isn’t enough to be against something bad. We must be for something good. We could sit at home in our rocking-chairs and be against everything⎯our neighbors included⎯and still not accomplish any good purpose. To be really effective we must be actively for something. If there is great evil abroad in the world⎯and there is⎯the only way to get rid of it is to see that it is replaced by great good. Evil will not run from a negative attitude. If we’re against slavery, we must do something for freedom. If we’re against falsehood, we must do something for truth. To eradicate wrong ideas we must plant right ideas, and to make the world what it should be, we must crowd it so full of positive good that evil will be ashamed to show its face. We must make freedom so utterly real for all men that no tyrant could ever promise them anything that would sound better. There are many people in the world who are against evil, who will probably never reach the heaven they expect and who will wonder why⎯and then perhaps someone will tell them that it isn’t enough to be against things. Said the Savior of mankind: “He that is not with me is against me.” Evil isn’t content with being passive. Evil is an active force. And those who would see righteousness cover the earth must set in motion also an active force. And so, if we’re against the evils of the day, we should do something about them.