382
The Adventist Home
The Problem of Many Athletic Sports—Vigorous exercise the
pupils must have. Few evils are more to be dreaded than indolence
and aimlessness. Yet the tendency of most athletic sports is a subject
of anxious thought to those who have at heart the well-being of the
youth. Teachers are troubled as they consider the influence of these
sports both on the student’s progress in school and on his success in
afterlife. The games that occupy so much of his time are diverting
the mind from study. They are not helping to prepare the youth for
practical, earnest work in life. Their influence does not tend toward
refinement, generosity, or real manliness.
Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and box-
ing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same
characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domina-
tion, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are
exerting upon the youth a power to demoralize that is appalling.
Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less
objectionable because of the excess to which they are carried. They
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stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste
for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsi-
bilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life’s sober realities and
its tranquil enjoyments. Thus the door is opened to dissipation and
lawlessness with their terrible results
When Life Was Less Complex—In early ages, with the people
who were under God’s direction, life was simple. They lived close to
the heart of nature. Their children shared in the labor of the parents and
studied the beauties and mysteries of nature’s treasure house. And in
the quiet of field and wood they pondered those mighty truths handed
down as a sacred trust from generation to generation. Such training
produced strong men.
In this age life has become artificial, and men have degenerated.
While we may not return fully to the simple habits of those early
times, we may learn from them lessons that will make our seasons
of recreation what the name implies—seasons of true upbuilding for
body and mind and soul
7
Education, 210, 211
.
8
Ibid., 211
.