THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, 14th MAY, 1932. WORKING WITH OTHERS.

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3178, 14 May 1932, Page 4

THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SATURDAY, 14th MAY, 1932. WORKING WITH OTHERS.

IT is one of the merits of the democratic scheme that it schools us in the art of co-operation. Unhappily, there are many persons so constituted as to be incapable of working Wilth others. They want to run the wliole show. Their motto is, “ Caesar or nothing,” and their psychology is not difficult to describe and explain. They are the victims of the superiority complex. The vulgar name for it is conceit. They have the limelight, and are not happy unless it focuses on them alone. Even an inspired apostle was harassed by one of the clan, “ Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence.” The message in reference to him intimated that he would be dealt with in a fashion he would never forget. The man who, instead of working harmoniously with others, aspires to lording it over them, is flirting with extinction. Unless he repents he will find himself sent to Coventry and presently drifting into the growing and gloomy limbo of disgruntled souls. He works up a grievance against the universe. If he is allowed to stay in the team he will wreck it. The wise course is to deal with him promptly, for it is better that one man perish than that the whole organisation should flounder. In any case, he is a disturber of the peace and a clog on the wheels of progress. The most unsportsmanlike fellow in the world is the cricketer who refuses to play unless he is captain. In the last issue the test of a man’s sincerity and faith is his ability to work with others. For good or for evil, we are compelled by a whole world !of forces to work in close co-operation with others, by means of conferences, committees, and round tables. Democracy has its drawbacks, and one of them is that it summons us to “ suffer fools gladly,” but the greatest fool is he who refuses to recognise the present constitution of things and adapt himself to it. Unless we can set up a dictator for every department of our organised activities we are obliged to act on the practice: “ Go to, and let us form a society.” We may be done to death with societiesj, but they are inevitable, and provide for all of us a very healthful discipline. No sooner, however, are many of them doing useful work than they come to grief, and frequently through the sheer incapacity of one man, or, alas ! one woman, to work with others. At the present moment, when men are widening their contacts to cope With the appalling sum of human misery, there is urgent need for men of every class and type to lay aside their prepossessions and toil with one heart and mind.

There is no such thing in the physical or social fabric as absolute independence. In the natural universe gravity binds all bodies together in an invisible and inescapable bond. An ancient Roman fable illustrated forcefully the inter-dependence of the various members of the human body. Other writers caught up the idea and emphasised it. We are all members of one body, each member with its own place and function. There are diversities of gifts and of duties. All are not fitted for leadership and high exploits. Very few of us grasp the full significance of what is called being “a member” of a certain or-

ganisation. A member is a limb, a living and necessary part of the whole, and rendering some form of service without which the body is incomplete. For a man to fail in his task is to impoverish the whole, and his function is determined by his capacity. If an arm insists on being a head, or the eye begins to proclaim its superiority over the hand, and refuses to c'o-op-erate, the result can only be confusion and disaster. Every member, even the lowliest and weakest, is necessary, and a special temptation besets the more highly gifted. He is in danger of despising the weaker brethren and refusing co-operation. He, because of his superior endowment, ought to see that the weakest members are necessary. The piccolo in an orchestra is not to be despised. Strong men aVe apt to be impatient, and are not always useful on committees. They see moire clearly and want to go continually on top gear. In a recent appreciation by Mr Calvin Coolidge of George Washington some prominence was given to his capacity for working in good causes with markedly uncongenial men. If one may change the metaphor from music to machinery, it may be pointed out that an efficient engine is a complicated affair, and the common reference to “ the ship finding herself ” has applicability to an organised body of men. In takes the engine some time to “run in,” to work with that easiness which gladdens the builder and engineer, and ensures safety, power, and punctuality. This is possible only by the conjoint and efficient action of every part in that mass of machinery. The more prominent features function in unison with the humbler elements. Were one section to proclaim independence, and dart off “ on its own,” the result would be disaster. An engine cannot help itself, but an organisation can, and the secret of sure progress is that every member must co-operate. Occasions will arise in which the peculiarly-developed virtues of one of the members will make him an obstructionist instead of a helper. The most conspicuous example is the over-scrupulous fellow. Lecky points out that “ if the absolute independence of individual judgment were published to its extreme, political anarchy would ensue. The complete concurrence of a large number of independent judgments in a complicated measure is impossible.” The present Government in Britain affords a happy illustration of what can be accomplished by a sensible willingness to co-operate without surrendering individual convictions. A member may suppoi*t a measure which he feels far from being satisfactory, and his justification is that its rejecion would involve a still greater evil. The man who has a specially sensitive conscience carries a heavy cross. He is not good at compromise, and compromise is universally unavoidable. One honours those who, faithful to convictions, gave up office rather than go against their conscience, but it is possible to be over-scrupulous. One should not be a slave to party, but neither must he be a slave to fads and fancies. Some men mistake maggots for inspiration, and make themselves a nuisance. It is our bounden duty to “ keep conscience as the noonday clear,” but one must first see that his moral judgment is informed and attuned. Speaking broadly, the wise man is ready to give and take, and the citizen who on some important commission will not act unless he holds the chief place and has his way is not giving evidence of a good conscience, but of an inordinate conceit of himself. He may soon find himself playing a lone hand, and regarded as one of the impossibles. He forgets that he is where he is to further the interests of a cause, and not to win kudos. He is come to office to work with others, and not lose them. He is a member of a chorus, not a soloist. Musical directors have sometimes found a singer using his powers so lustily that he drowns the other members in his part. That is artistically something very like a crime, for it destroys balance, is unjust to others, and spoils the performance. If ever in our national history there was a time when all men should co-operate to seek all men’s good, that moment is now. Our commlon adversity should bring us to a common sympathy and a united effoitt to secure prosperity. If we are to accomplish any good, and deserve well lof our country, we must jettison our peccadilloes, and without demur set ourselves to work with others. We are called to manhood, not to childishness.