Reaction Time

Frequently when we become aware of conditions that need correction, we wonder why the people who are responsible don’t correct them. In a home or a family, in a community or a commonwealth, usually it will be found that there is someone whose moral or legal responsibility it is to see that questionable conditions do not exist, and we are let to wonder why they are permitted to continue. There could be many answers to this line of questioning, and to ascribe any one cause would be to oversimplify the problem. It sometimes happens that those responsible for moral or legal action are lazy or indifferent; it sometimes happens that they are actually unaware of it; and it sometimes happens that private and public opinion is against doing anything about it. Any of these reasons could be responsible for a person’s sitting by and watching things go on which it is his obligation to see do not go on. But beyond all these possible explanations, there is one reason yet unmentioned which is frequently responsible for failure to correct evils that need correcting⎯and that is the lack of moral courage that comes with the failure of a man to have his own house in order. He who is carrying a burden on his own conscience finds it difficult to set someone else right who is guilty of the same or similar offenses. A prosecutor with a sense of guilt must feel that he is pointing the finger at himself every time he accuses someone else. A parent who corrects a child in matters in which he himself does not conform is almost always unconvincing. It is difficult to tell others what to do, with conviction, in matters in which we ourselves do not have a convincing record. It is true now, as it has always been true, that there is a lack of strength in anyone whose own life isn’t in order⎯which often accounts for lack of moral courage, and which is one of the reasons why more things that need to be set right aren’t set right. We can’t be weak inside and strong outside. We can’t be weak at home and strong away. In other words, if we’d like to reform others, we pretty well know where to begin. There are more things than charity that begin at home, and setting things in order is one of them.