Our Responsibility to be an Example
William George Jordan, in his book "The Majesty of Calmness,"
succinctly reminds us of the importance of our example:
"The only responsibility that a man cannot evade in this life is the one he thinks of least, his personal influence. Man's conscious influence, when he is on dress parade, when he is posing to impress those around him, is woefully small. But his unconscious influence, the silent, subtle radiation of his personality, the effect of his words and acts, the trifles he never considers, is tremendous.
Every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world. Every (person) has an atmosphere which is affecting every other. So silent and unconsciously is this influence working, that (one) may forget that it exists...
"Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or for evil, the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what a (person) really is, not what he pretends to be. Every person, by his (or her) mere living, is radiating sympathy, or sorrow, or morbidness, or cynicism or happiness, or hope, or any of a hundred other qualities. Life is a state of constant radiation and absorption; to exist is to radiate; to exist is to be the recipient of radiations."
"In so far as you approach temptation to a man, you do him an injury; and if he is overcome, you share his guilt."
--Samuel Johnson--
"If you want your neighbor to see what the Christ spirit will do for him, let him see what it has done for you."
--Henry Ward Beecher.