In the days of myths in ancient Greece, men talked at great length, and with superstitious fear, of the Godesses of Fate — three sisters to whom the Gods had given the power to determine the lives and fortunes of all human beings on earth, of every age, and in every generation.
This ancient myth was so popular in medieval times that a Roman artist, supposed to have been Michelangelo, painted these Goddesses as they were supposed to be — three old women in a group, manipulating the life and fortune of every human being on earth.
Clotho is the youngest sister. She holds the distaff which carries the thread of life. Lachesis, the second sister fate, winds off the thread of life. And Atropos, the oldest sister, stands by with huge shears, impatiently waiting for the right moment to clip the thread of life.
The teaching of this ancient myth is that every human being, of every age, and in every generation, is but the plaything of the fates; that life is longer or shorter as the fates may decide; and that no act of man can change his own destiny.
Here, then, is the difference between ancient myth and modern science. Today science tells us in unequivocal terms that man is by no means helpless concerning his own future; that only the fool believes he cannot help himself.
And laden with facts to prove each point, science goes on to show how man may lengthen his life or shorten it; how he may make his life or mar it; how he may bless his life or curse it — by what he knows, and by the way he puts his knowledge to use. Science has made it clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that man is not the slave of his environment and his circumstances, but that he is in truth the master and maker of his own destiny. In the words of the great Disraeli: “Man is not the creature of circumstances ; circumstances are the creatures of man.”
My word, how we do need that kind of philosophy of life today — a creed to challenge a man to the very best that is in him!
It was this kind of belief that was the very essence of the thinking of America’s early settlers, the courageous and persevering pioneers who pushed the American frontier westward from the Atlantic to the distant Pacific.
These men and women endured incredible hardships, and often risked their lives, to carve out new opportunities in this promising new world. It took great faith, and courage, and fortitude, and perseverance. And to keep up their courage in times of great danger and frustration, they reminded themselves of an old saying that had grown out of the sweat and blood of early frontier days: “The cowards never started, and the weak died along the way.” That was a challenge to stir men’s hearts!
This great new world of America was founded and built by free men and women who believed that they were the masters and makers of their own fates. In that faith they built a vast new world of freedom and opportunity, the dream of all mankind.
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