The American Baha'i Community, the leaven destined to leaven the whole,
cannot hope, at this critical juncture in the fortunes of a struggling,
perilously situated, spiritually moribund nation, to either escape the
trials with which this nation is confronted, nor claim to be wholly immune
from the evils that stain its character.
At so critical a period, at so challenging an hour, the members of a
community, invested by 'Abdu'l-Baha with a primacy which can, through
neglect and apathy, be allowed to lose its vital power and driving force,
are immersed in a task, and are faced with responsibilities, which a World
Spiritual Crusade, the third and greatest collective enterprise embarked
upon in American Baha'i history, has thrust upon them before the eyes of
their admiring and expectant sister communities throughout the world. They
now stand at the crossroads, unable to relax for a moment, or hesitate as
to which road they should tread, or to allow any decline in the high
standard they have, for no less than six decades, undeviatingly upheld.
Nay, if this primacy is to be safeguarded and enhanced, a consecration,
not only on the part of a chosen few, to every single objective of the
Ten-Year Plan to which they are now pledged, and a pouring out of
substance, not only by those of limited means, but by the richest and
wealthiest, in a degree involving the truest sacrifice, for the purpose of
insuring the attainment of the aims and purposes of the Plan in its
present phase of development, are imperative and can brook no delay.
The mighty and laudable effort exerted, by a considerable number of
pioneers, in the course of the opening phase of this world-encircling
Crusade, in the virgin territories of the globe, must, if this primacy is
to remain unimpaired, be increased, doubled, nay trebled, and must
manifest itself not only in foreign fields where the prizes so laboriously
won during the last twelve months must, at whatever sacrifice, be
meticulously preserved, but throughout the entire length and breadth of
the American Union, and particularly in the goal cities, where hitherto
the work has stagnated, and which must, in the year now entered, become
the scene of the finest exploits which the home front has yet seen. A
veritable exodus from the large cities where a considerable number of
believers have, over a period of years, congregated, both on the Atlantic
and Pacific coasts, as well as in the heart of the country, and where,
owing to the tempo and the distractions of city life, the progress of the
Faith has been retarded, must signalize the inauguration of this most
intensive and challenging phase of the Crusade on the home front. Most
certainly and emphatically must the lead be given by the two focal centers
of Baha'i activity which rank among the oldest of and occupy the most
honored position among, the cities throughout the American Union, the one
as the mother city of the North American continent, the other named by
'Abdu'l-Baha the City of the Covenant. Indeed, so grave are the exigencies
of the present hour, and so critical the political position of the
country, that were a bare fifteen adult Baha'is to be left in each of
these cities, over which unsuspected dangers are hanging, it would still
be regarded as adequate for the maintenance of their local spiritual
assemblies.