Do All the Good You Can
by Steve Goodier
Someone advised, "If you can't be kind, at least have the decency
to be vague." But kindness and goodness extend far beyond how we
talk about each other. The person who dares to be good -- and DO
good -- may have to find the heart to stand up and be counted.
Not too long into the American Civil War the Union finally won a
victory at Antietam. President Lincoln used the occasion to
produce a proclamation to free American slaves. He called his
cabinet together and laid the document before them. He had been
shaking the hands of well-wishers all morning and his arm and
hand were stiff. He rested his arm and spoke to Secretary of
State William Seward.
"If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and
my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the
Proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say,
'He hesitated.'"
Then he picked up a pen and signed "Abraham Lincoln" in bold
writing. That signature, coupled with a later Union victory,
changed the course of history forever. American slaves were
finally freed.
It's not always about being nice. It's about doing the right
thing. And it was never put better by anyone than by eighteenth
century church reformer John Wesley:
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the
ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you
can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."
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Steve Goodier's books & newsletter: http://LifeSupportSystem.com.