A World with Some Fight In It
"I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it" -- Ecc. 3:10
Pessimistic people are always drawing gloomy lessons from nature. They see nature’s symbol as crystallized in the image of the mouse in the claws of the cat. As they see it, nature is always "red in tooth and claw." They complain about the blights upon the fruit, the devastations of storms, the prevalence of sickness and ill health. What kind of a world do they want? Do they want a world in which we would be free from trial and travail, in which we would be able to live in ease and with nothing to disturb our peace and comfort?
What sort of race would have developed in a world like that? It has been by exercise in trouble and travail that the sons of men have developed into a mighty and masterful race, step by step subduing the earth and gradually gaining dominion over the air and the seas and all the elements of nature. It has been remarked, "This is not a very comfortable world for fearful people." In many respects it is not a comfortable world for any of us. But, with all of its discomforts, you cannot conceive of a better world for making men and women, and making them worth-while and useful to one another.
Someone has said: "It is not half a bad thing to be living in a world that has some fight in it." I should say that it is more than half a good thing. It would be a most unfortunate thing for us if we were so placed that our lives would be always sheltered and protected. Under such conditions we would become a feeble and weak race, and nature would soon exterminate such a race.
We often mourn over our discomforts; yet discomfort is the spur of industry. We think it is terrible that we have to contend with so much opposition; yet we grow by opposition. It is by toil and contending with the hard, resistant forces of nature that we gain physical strength and prowess, not by sitting in an easy arm-chair and reading treatises on how to grow strong and how to enjoy good health. Life’s way is the way of controversy, of trial, of contest. We may resent these things, yet they are the stepping stones whereby we reach the heights of the soul’s divinity and win the crown of manhood and noble character. But for the hindrances and obstacles that obstruct our way, we would never travel far on the road to higher and better things.
The world in which we live confronts us at every turn with a challenge to battle. To live is to fight! We sometimes become weary of the fighting and wonder why life should be so full of conflict. If everything was made easy for us and there was never any fighting to be done, we would never know anything of the strength and courage that we so admire in the soldier; we would never experience the keen delight of battle and victory. Instead of resenting it, we may well be thankful that we live in a world that has some fight in it.
