"
That is it, young man--that is the whole law and the gospel of this
subject. Be an American. And do not be an American of imagination. You
cannot be an American by seeing visions and dreaming dreams. You
cannot be an American by reading about them. Professor Munsterberg's
volume will not make you an American any more than a study of tactics
out of a book will make you a soldier.
It is the field that makes you a soldier. It is marching shoulder to
shoulder with other soldiers that makes you a soldier. It is mingling
with other Americans that makes you an American. Our eighty millions
will make you American. Keep close to them. The soil will make you
American. Keep close to it.
Utilize your enthusiasms. Do not neutralize them by permitting them to
be vague and impersonal. Be for men and against men. Be for policies
and against policies. And remember always that it is far more
important to be for somebody and something than to be against.
There is an excellent though fortunately a small class of citizens in
this and every other country who are never for anybody but always
against somebody. Frequently these men are right in their opposition;
but their force is dissipated because they are habitually negative.
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