The Green caldron - University Library

March, 1959 .9
not eliminated suffering or conflict. He has, instead, accepted the former and
overcome the latter through a strong and confident determination to follow
the path he has chosen.
We are now able to see the reason for the anguish, the burden, the sorrow,
and the joy that shall always acompany the saint and the sinner. The former
has used the suffering of life as a means of extracting the joy of life. Perhaps
the sinner, in his long war against all that degrades and defeats the human
soul, will do likewise.
IN
The Mythical MoraHty of
American History
Sharon Simerl
Rhetoric 102, Theme 10
A WORLD WHICH IS RULED BY FORCE AND STRENGTH,
it should not seem strange that nations are not respected for their noble
motives but for their ability to take advantage of their neighbors suc-
cessfully. Although most Americans would vigorously deny that the United
States gained its power and prominence by such Machiavellian disregard
for ethical standards, it might surprise many Americans to discover that the
United States, like most other important countries, has committed its share
of underhanded and unethical actions in order to protect itself or increase its
material size and wealth.
When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth in the early 1600's, they were
establishing themselves on land to which, actually, they had no right. The
papers and charters issued to them were signed by European rulers who
based their authority upon the voyages made to the New World by ships
carrying their flags. Perhaps if the New World has been totally uninhabited
by human beings, there would have been justification for the establishment of
colonies. Plowever, from Canada to Mexico there were numerous tribes of
Indians, scattered across the land that was to become the United States.
The arrival of the first white men marked the beginning of long centuries in
which the Indians were steadily pushed from their hunting grounds and their
native areas into successively poorer and more worthless territories—all
because of the greed and callousness of the newcomers. Even today, much
of the land upon which most Indian reservations have been established con-
sists of some of the driest, least fertile soil to be found in America.
The Revolutionary War. which has been glorified continually in American
history books, had its share of commercial motivation, for, in reality, the
restrictions on civil liberties in the colonies were frequently far less stringent
than those in England herself. The merchants and industrialists of the thirteen