"The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up. It is useless and cruel to put a man on his legs, if the next moment his head is to be brought against a curbstone.
A man of that type will never lay the world under any obligation to him, but will be a moral pauper, a drag on the wheels of society, and if he too be identified with a peculiar variety of the race he will entail disgrace upon his race as well as upon himself. The world in which we live is very accommodating to all sorts of people. It will cooperate with them in any measure which they propose; it will help those who earnestly help themselves, and will hinder those who hinder themselves. It is very polite, and never offers its services unasked. Its favors to individuals are measured by an unerring principle in this—viz., respect those who respect themselves, and despise those who despise themselves. It is not within the power of unaided human nature to persevere in pitying a people who are insensible to their own wrongs and indifferent to the attainment of their own rights. The poet was as true to common sense as to poetry when he said,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. ...
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others."https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/
Why are so many seemingly so downtrodden, then, when so much has been granted to them? To be sure, some victory was won by struggle, but (I would argue) the lion's share of their gains were by voluntary concession of the rulers who made good faith attempts to right previous moral wrongs. Yet by many measures, these people are worse off today on average than they were during the days of their claimed "oppression." Who, then, is the enemy today? Who now bashes the head against the curbstone when the old oppressor left the field long ago?
Could it be that, as someone mentioned above, that people do not value, or at least under-value, that which was given to them, as opposed to something they had to strive for, to at least earn, even if not necessarily physically fight to attain? Taking things for granted is a universal human failing.
Well, now you can sit anywhere you like on the bus and all the Confederate statues have been removed from the park. But as the bus rumbles down potholed streets, past decrepit tenements, block after block of shuttered or burnt-out businesses, vacant lots and crowds of rough-looking men idling on street corners, ask yourself "Are we really better off today than our grandparents or great-grandparents were in the bad old days?"
Clearly, the above examples dealt with the history of race relations. In my opinion, the issues raised have far broader applicability: the need for individual responsibility as well as (alas) the limitations upon what can actually be achieved.
"The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up. It is useless and cruel to put a man on his legs, if the next moment his head is to be brought against a curbstone.
A man of that type will never lay the world under any obligation to him, but will be a moral pauper, a drag on the wheels of society, and if he too be identified with a peculiar variety of the race he will entail disgrace upon his race as well as upon himself. The world in which we live is very accommodating to all sorts of people. It will cooperate with them in any measure which they propose; it will help those who earnestly help themselves, and will hinder those who hinder themselves. It is very polite, and never offers its services unasked. Its favors to individuals are measured by an unerring principle in this—viz., respect those who respect themselves, and despise those who despise themselves. It is not within the power of unaided human nature to persevere in pitying a people who are insensible to their own wrongs and indifferent to the attainment of their own rights. The poet was as true to common sense as to poetry when he said,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. ...
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others."https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/
Why are so many seemingly so downtrodden, then, when so much has been granted to them? To be sure, some victory was won by struggle, but (I would argue) the lion's share of their gains were by voluntary concession of the rulers who made good faith attempts to right previous moral wrongs. Yet by many measures, these people are worse off today on average than they were during the days of their claimed "oppression." Who, then, is the enemy today? Who now bashes the head against the curbstone when the old oppressor left the field long ago?
Could it be that, as someone mentioned above, that people do not value, or at least under-value, that which was given to them, as opposed to something they had to strive for, to at least earn, even if not necessarily physically fight to attain? Taking things for granted is a universal human failing.
Well, now you can sit anywhere you like on the bus and all the Confederate statues have been removed from the park. But as the bus rumbles down potholed streets, past decrepit tenements, block after block of shuttered or burnt-out businesses, vacant lots and crowds of rough-looking men idling on street corners, ask yourself "Are we really better off today than our grandparents or great-grandparents were in the bad old days?"
Clearly, the above examples dealt with the history of race relations. In my opinion, the issues raised have far broader applicability: the need for individual responsibility as well as (alas) the limitations upon what can actually be achieved.
Excellent! As applicable today as it was when first penned.