The Reading Warehouse

This story deals in part, indirectly, with the theme of law and order. Let us take this phrase apart and examine it. Law is good and was meant to be set up for the protection of all people. One of the meanings of order is to command, making the commanded obey. Order in its negative sense is rigid, not flexible to the rights of man. Too much order is detrimental. What follows in these pages touches on this theme. Order in the extreme is restrictive to the individual. This should be understood: respect is due the law when it is just and it is for one's own good. It is the word order that deserves the thought. As the inheritors of democracy, we can think for ourselves. The danger lies in those who wish to think for us. Our mind or intellect, a divine gift, is our identification. The mind is the only real thing that is free and was never meant for mass communal sharing. To submit one's mind is to relinquish the most precious gift bestowed on man by God.

When a case is being presented, both sides must be examined, making fair the hearing of each. On the positive side of order, law and order have to go together. If the land were lawless, the individual would have no protection. However, if the courts have been inequitable, justice has been denied, what then? Then the laws of land have been violated. It follows then that like justice depicted blindfolded, so she will remain impartial, does not have one central scale, she has two. She is seeking the perfect balance, respect for the law when it is just, with freedom for the individual. Anything in extreme tends to be less than good. That is, there is a world of difference between the sincere patriot and one who is chauvinistic. The latter flaunts his beliefs with a roaring passion. Like the eternal flame, the true patriot loves his country with constant undying flames, and he balances this with love for the individuality of man. The fanatic is often consumed by the fury of his fire and remains anonymous even to his own identity. To lose one's identity is to give up one's freedom.