The Pulpit Speaks: October 17, 1959

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

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

A few days ago, two of my children were engaged in a bitter argument. When the argument had gone quite a distance, the older girl said to them, “When you grow up, you will be sisters!” How true this will be in all of our dealings with our fellow man! Everything points to just that. The day when all of us grow up we will be brothers and sisters.

Today, in the midst of all of the prejudices and jealousies, we must face fact and say these thing point to one thing: we have not grown up. What these daughters of mine were doing is what a lot of their elders do. We go through the process of constantly bickering, which tells us that we have failed to grow up. But the words of the older daughter throws light on not only the high hopes of my younger daughters but also on us.

The high hopes of our world today are not a matter of people growing up physically but growing up throughout. I know that what these small children were doing was only a temporary thing but I also know that such bickering among older people is not a temporary condition. Many times, we have our petty arguments and they go on for months and years. We never grow up to the point that we are able to forgive and forget. This, in its greatest sense, tells me that we have not grown up.

Today our world is filled with pygmies – people who, in spite of their advanced years, have failed to grow up. Experiences day by day tell me that hidden behind the actions of many people is one great desire: to get even. How unfortunate it is that so many people live for just this one thing. This tragic condition tells me that far too many of us, although advanced in years, have failed to grow up to the point that we are brothers and sisters.

These young girls are blood sisters but they are still fit to argue. They were engaged in a bitter argument as far as children’s arguments are concerned. But daily, there are older people who are engaged in arguments for which there is no forgiveness. We forget, in many instances, that we are kin. We lay down or throw aside the spiritual ties which should make us rise above such pettiness.

Today we need men and women who have grown beyond the realm of pettiness and are able to argue and forget. The world is what it is today because, down through history, we have had men who are big enough to disagree and still be friends. Our sole hope for survival is resting upon the men and women of our day who are big enough and grown enough to let bygones be bygones. Only when these men some on the scene will our world be a better world.

Years ago, a man looking back over is life said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” This, in short, is the solution to all of our problems today. Only when these men and women of responsibility become men and women of maturity will our problems be solved. Growth in all the areas of our activity will finally bring about a lasting peace. Nothing else will ever do.

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