Your society worships these human butchers and the more lives one of
them has destroyed the bigger the monument is erected in his honor. How
many of these butchers would have the courage to take an insult from a
weaker party without resenting it? It requires great bravery for the
strong to refrain from taking advantage of the weak; it demands real
heroism for the strong to equally share the results of their labors with
the feeble. For the strong are doubly blessed in having strength while
the weak are unfortunate and need sympathy."
"Would it not be courageous for one person to die for the love of
another?" inquired I.
"That would depend altogether upon the circumstances," replied Arletta.
"It would require far more courage to sacrifice your life for one you
did not love as there would then be no selfish motive behind it. As I
understand your feelings, you love me and imagine that you would not
care to live without me."
"Yes," said I fervently, "I shall take my own life sooner than leave
you."
"That is not courage at all, it is simply cowardice," answered she.
"Through your own selfishness in trying to obtain something beyond your
reach, you lack the strength to live without it. It takes far more
courage to live when you want to die than to die when you want to live.
Unselfishness is the very highest type of courageousness and one must
live for the good he may do the world instead of his own personal
aggrandizement. Thousands of our noble men sacrificed their lives yearly
for the good of the world.
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