ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ABLE TO SAY NO.
It often requires great courage to say NO. But by being able promptly,
on occasion, to utter this little monosyllable, you may save yourself
a deal of trouble. If mother Eve had known how to say _no_, she might
have saved herself and her posterity from ruin. And many of her
children, who have lost their character and their all, might have been
saved, if they had only had courage promptly to say NO. Your safety and
happiness depend upon it.
You are importuned by some of your companions to engage in some
amusement, or to go on some excursion, which you know to be wrong. You
resolutely and promptly say NO, at the outset, and there is the end of
it. But if you hesitate, you will be urged and importuned, until you
will probably yield; and having thus given up your own judgment, and
violated your conscience, you will lose your power of resistance, and
yield to every enticement.
Joseph has cultivated decision of character. He never hesitates a
moment when any thing wrong is proposed. He rejects it instantly. The
consequence is, his companions never think of going to him, when they
have any mischievous scheme on foot. His prompt and decisive NO they
do not wish to encounter. His parents can trust him any where, because
they have no fears of his being led astray. And this relieves them of a
load of anxiety.
Reuben is the opposite of this. He wishes to please every body,
and therefore has not courage to say _no_ to any. He seems wholly
unable to resist temptation. He is, therefore, always getting into
difficulty,--always doing something that he ought not, or going to some
improper place, or engaging in some improper diversions, through the
enticement of his companions. His parents scarcely dare trust him out
of their sight, they are so fearful that he will be led astray. He is
thus a source of great anxiety to them, and all because he cannot say
NO.
Now, let me beg of you to learn to say NO. If you find any difficulty
in uttering it,--if your tongue won’t do its office, or if you find
a “_frog in your throat_,” which obstructs your utterance,--go by
yourself, and practise _saying_ no, NO, NO! till you can articulate
clearly, distinctly, and without hesitation; and have it always ready
on your tongue’s end, to utter with emphasis to every girl or boy,
man or woman, or evil spirit, that presumes to propose to you to do
any thing that is wrong. Only be careful to say it respectfully and
courteously, with the usual _prefixes_ and _suffixes_, which properly
belong to the persons to whom you are speaking.