No one can long occupy a high place in
the public heart without adding to the profit or pleasure of the world.
Here is a good line of thought for those who are too self-centered and
self-important: "There are millions of solar systems in the universe,
some of them much greater than ours. There are uncounted planets in
space, beside some of which our little earth is a mere toy. Some of
these planets are doubtless inhabited. Even on this small earth there
are over a billion people. I am one in a number so great that my mind
can not grasp such a multitude. Countless billions have gone before and
they got along very well before I was born. Countless billions will live
and die after I have passed on, and if they hear of me it will probably
be by accident. And so it will be for ages and ages, so extensive that
my brain can not grasp the stretch of time, which is without beginning
and without end. How much do I, individually, amount to?"
And an honest answer _must_ be, "Personally I am of very small
importance."
An individual can not live of himself, for himself and by himself. Only
as he adds his efforts to those of others does his work count.
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