Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1912 — One Word That Should Never be Used [ARTICLE]

One Word That Should Never be Used

By FRANK CRANE

One word 1 should like to rub out of the vocabulary used by human beings, one toward another. It is the word “don’t.” Looking back over a somewhat full and. varied experience, I can say that in my judgment didactic prohibition issued from soul to soul, for every ounce of good it has done, has made a pound of.harm. ■ “Don't” is. the stupidest, most brainless and laziest of all parental terms. To tell a child what to do requires thought, investigation, interest. To tell anyone what not to do requires no cerebral ion. Don t is tRe language of annoyance.

“Do” is the language of love. x “I like very'well to be told what to do,, by those who are fond of me,” said Aleibiades ; “but never to be told what not to do; and the more fond they are. of me the less 1 like it. Because when they tell me what not to do, it is a sign that I have displeased or am likely to displease them. Besides—l believe there are some other reasons,’ but they have quite escaped me.” ’ To be sure thelten commandments are “don’ts.”' But they are God’s, which is different.