The Pulpit Speaks: May 16, 1959

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

The world is filled with tragedies. One does not have to go far before he runs into one tragedy or another. The really tragic thing is those involved do not realize that they are tragedies.

A long time ago, a man came here on earth and stayed for a long time. He grew some but never grew beyond the stature of of a boy. We live in a world today filled with “Tom Thumbs.” Daily, I come in contact with people who have never grown up. The fact that they have not makes them behave as they do.

A few days ago, I was on a local bus. There was a lady who, hours before, had had an argument with her husband. For some unknown reason, she did not finish the argument at home, so she set out to tell the lady sitting next to her what she should have told her husband. In her display of emotional upheaval, she said, “Nobody tells me where to go, when to go, and when to come back. My mother and father never told me that!”

I felt like turning around and telling her, “Yes, that is exactly the reason you are on this bus, going to that job this morning!” The very fact that she or anyone would get on a public bus and blab about her personal business is evidence that she had failed to grow up.

But it does not stop there. All along life’s highway you find people who have not grown up to the point that they will do anything to gain publicity. When one reads “Letters to the Editor” in one of our local papers or listens to “Party Line” on one of our local radio stations, he has to stop and wonder just how popular is the idea advanced here. As you read or hear some of the attitudes expressed in either media, one has to wonder what has happened to the well-meaning people of our society.

In the mind of this writer, it is quite evident that the writers of such letters and the makers of such comments as I frequently hear have failed to grow up. This, in itself, is tragic – very tragic. Today as never before we need men who have grown up, men who themselves have come to grips with the vital things in life and are now in a position to assist other people to do the same. We have far too many people in this generation who have failed to grow up themselves but who are constantly trying to teach someone else to grow up.

The Bible says that one day Jesus walked up to a group of people and revealed that the “spirit of the Lord is upon me because life has anointed me to preach the gospel.” Jesus was acknowledging that he was now grown up to the point that He was able to do the work before Him. We need men today who have grown to the point that they know where they are going.

The condition of the world in which you awoke this morning is no longer a thing that can be run by inexperienced or immature people. We can’t fool ourselves any longer in believing that we can do, when we know that we have nothing to offer. We need people at the wheel today who know where they are going and have a well-planned map of how to get there. It is no longer a hit-or-miss pattern of life.

The hymn writer long ago cried out, “Rise up, O men of God!” Today we need those men of God and the men of good intentions to rise up and do that which they know is right. We need these men to take over the leadership of current world conditions and make a real society out of the chaos and confusion of today.

We need men who have learned to discipline themselves. The fact that mother and father never told you when to go or where to go is no reason for us to thing that there should be no restrictions on either. We need people who have learned to discipline themselves that they might be in a better position to teach discipline to others. We need not boast that we have never been exposed to discipline. This very fact means defeat within itself. Every person who has ever made anything of himself had to first discipline himself. Today we need people who have learned this lesson.

We need not fool ourselves by the idea that we can live under false pretenses and still live a worthwhile life. The two do not go hand in hand. If we are going to make a worthwhile contribution to our day and time, we must first be somebody ourselves. The only way we can do this is through growing up in every respect. There are too many “Tom Thumbs” now trying to rule this world. This has never been successfully done nor will it ever be done.

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