Most of us, sitting in Newton's place and seeing the apple fall,
would merely have debated the advisability of getting the apple
to eat it--just the process that any monkey mind would pass
through.
A Newton, a BRAIN TRAINED TO THINK, sees the apple drop, asks
himself why the moon does not drop also. And he discovers the
law of gravitation which governs the existence of every material
atom in the universe. ----
Young men who read this, start in NOW to use your brains.
Take nothing for granted, not even the fact that the moon stays
in her appointed place or that the poor starve and freeze amid
plenty.
Think of the things which are wrong and of the possibilities of
righting them. Study your own weaknesses and imperfections.
There is power in your brain to correct them, if you will
develop that power.
As surely as you can train your arm to hold fifty pounds out
straight, just so surely can you train your brain to deal with
problems that now would find you a gaping incompetent.
You may not be a Newton. But if you can condescend to aim at
being an inferior Sandow, can't you afford to try even harder to
be an inferior Newton?
Don't be a muscular monkey. Be a low-grade philosopher, if you
can't be high-grade, and find how much true pleasure there is
even in inferior brain gymnastics. ----
Take up some problem and study it:
There goes a woman, poor and old. She carries a heavy burden
because she is too sad and weak to fight against fate, too honest
to leave a world that treats her harshly.
There struts a youngster, rich and idle.
How many centuries of hell on earth will it take to put that
woman's load on that other broad, fat, idle back?
Answer that one question, better still, TRANSFER THE LOAD, and
your life will not have been wasted. ----
It is THOUGHT that moves the world. In Napoleon's BRAIN
are born the schemes that murder millions and yet push
civilization on. The mere soldier, with gold lace and sharp
sword, is nothing--a mere tool.
It is the concentrated thought of the English people under
Puritan influence that makes Great Britain a sham monarchy and a
real republic now.
It is the thought of the men of independent MIND in this country
that throws English tea and English rule overboard forever.
Don't wait until you are old. Don't wait until you are ONE DAY
older. Begin NOW.
Or, later, with a dull, fuzzy, useless mind, you will realize
that an unthinking man might as well have been a monkey, with fur
instead of trousers, and consequent freedom from mental
responsibility or self-respect.