When he left politics, (Mann) moved to Ohio to accept a position as president of Antioch College. “I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words,” he told one graduating class: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
At my age, those words struck me hard: ashamed to die. Whoever considered being ashamed to die? Maybe being willing to die, or afraid to die. But ashamed to die? What shame can there be in dying? We all do it.
Have I ever in all my years won any victory for humanity? That’s a question I’d rather excuse myself from having to answer. I suppose I’ve helped one or two humans win a personal victory or two in my eight decades. But a victory for humanity? Not even close. And I do not have much time left.
Some part of Mann’s condemnation makes sense to me, and even motivates me. What, if anything, might I yet do to “win a victory for humanity?” Horace Mann’s challenge will not easily leave me.
In the meantime--or better in the eternity that holds time in their hands--I believe I am loved by a Savior who at my end will deliver me from any and all shame. Love overcomes shame. I work on whatever victories I might achieve assured of love. And you can, too.
P.S.: Here’s another line from Horace Mann that seems particularly relevant to our times: “If any man seeks greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both.” I know you want to make it more inclusive, and that’s okay. I’d like to reformulate it this way: “If any nation seeks greatness, let it forget greatness and ask for truth, and it will find both.” Make of that what you will.
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