Never Treat Any Person as a Thing

A commencement speaker asked a question that all should ask themselves: “What have you go to sell?” Perhaps more properly it could be put: What have you got to offer? What have you got to give? The law of compensation, the law of giving and receiving still works basically in all relationships of life, even if we don’t always see it as such. There is no greater lesson to learn than the importance of personal performance. And personal standards, personal morals, personal conduct cannot satisfactorily be separated from professional conduct nor talent from integrity. In some counsel to young men, Field Marshall Montgomery said, “Speak the truth. Stand firm by what you believe to be right. Be enthusiastic in everything you do.” “Sincerity, integrity, and tolerance are, to my mind, the first requirements . . . ,” said General George C. Marshall. “Keep faith in the goodness of mankind,” advised Marquis Childs, “and . . . say the truth as you see it.” “. . .approach every subject and person with good will until there is justification for not doing so, . . .” Another important item in what we have to offer is attitude⎯attitude toward excellence and attitude toward others. As to excellence, Lewis Webster Jones once warned that “We are raising . . . the mass man, the self-satisfied man . . . [who] prides himself on being the average man.” But being average isn’t good enough because it takes more than an average performance to bring about progress. Every improvement and all progress has come because someone dared to be different⎯dared to be better than average. Finally as to attitudes toward others, Sir Arthur Fforde said: “Through life, never treat any person as a thing.” The importance of people, the importance of each person, and the potential of each person is beyond calculation. Person-to-person is still the most important relationship in life. “. . . never treat any person as a thing.”