THE ONE MAN BAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 8

THE ONE MAN BAND

QUIET CORNER

(Written ;'or THE SUN l>y the Rev. Charles Chandler, Assistant City MissionerJ

fie went a crowd followed him. He carried a drum upon his back, on the top of which were fastened cymbals and triangle. Drum sticks were strapped to his arms, and projected from his elbows, while with his hands he worked a concertina. Fastened to his heels were straps with which he operated upon cymbals and triangle, and between his lips he had a mouth organ. What a lot of folk there are who keep a dog and bark themselves. People who are no good at team work; who have no end of irons in the fire, yet lack of ability to co-operate with others.

The secret of successful organising surely lies in the direction of being able to relegate to others tasks one cannot undertake oneself . I can think of quite a number of people who bang their own drum, and run their whole show, and seem to resent the proffering of any assistance. Their lives are punctuated with sighs, and their backs are stooped, all because they cannot catch on to the idea of impersonal success. Impersonal success is the gaining of victory for the sake of the work, rather than for the sake of oneself. It consists of playing the triangle, and leaving the cymbals to the other chap, and being quite satisfied if the harmony is right. We are, at best, merely instruments for the effecting of purposes. So long as the purposes are effected, what matter if the instruments be partially or even wholly ignored? What the one-man-band-fellow wants is all the work and all the glory. What he gets is just the sympathy of those who call him foolish for attempting so much. NEXT WEEK: VIA CRUCIS