It can soothe to repose or rouse to fury. It can express itself in
the gentle zephyr or in the devastating whirlwind. Its versatility is
altogether worthy of notice, and we may well hold the lesson in history in
abeyance, for the nonce, while we inculcate due respect for the hand. For
no one can contemplate his hand for five minutes and not gain for it a
feeling of profound respect.
What is true of the hand is true of the whole human body. This is the very
acme of created things; this is God's masterpiece. How any one can fail to
respect such a wonderful piece of work is beyond explanation. The process
of walking or of breathing must hold the thoughtful person enthralled and
enchanted. But, strange as it may seem, there are those who seem not to
realize in what a marvelous abode their spirits have their home. Such
scant respect do they have for their bodies that they defile them and
treat them with shameless ignominy. They saturate them with poisons and
vulgarize them with unseemly practices. They seem to regard them as mere
property to be used or abused at pleasure and not temples to be honored.
The man who does not respect his own body can feel no respect or reverence
for its Creator nor for the soul that dwells within it. Such a man lacks
self-respect and self-respect is the fertile soil in which many virtues
flourish. The teaching of physiology that fails to generate a feeling of
deep respect for the human body is not the sort of teaching that should
obtain in our schools.
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