Businessmen, Progress, and a Ridiculous Question

“Much  of the best energy of the world is wasted in living in the past or dreaming of the future. Some people seem to think any time, but the present is a good time to live in. But one man who move the world must be a part of it. They must touch the life that now is, and feel the thrill of the movement of civilization.”

“Many  people do not live in the present. It does not know them. They are buried in books; they live in archives, and in history, but the great throbbing pulse of the world they do not touch. They are not a part of the world; they are never attuned to it.”

“The young man who would win must plunge the current of events. He must keep step with the march of progress, or he will soon be far in the rear. The current of the times must run through his veins, or there will be paralysis somewhere in his nature.” ( The Business Journal).

Because of this all-encompassing philosophy, the young man who would win must plunge the current of events is claiming to be the standard bearer of progress, of civilization, and even of the march of progress, because the current of the times must run through his veins. Everyone else, and above all those studying in the archives and history are excluded from the great throbbing pulse of the world, and so they do not touch the life that now is, namely, the progress and civilization.

But the people who  study in the archives and history know that, from the historical point of view, the idea of progress is far from easy to define, while it is a true-life event that many people only understand the progress both from a technical point of view, and as a continuing development of machines.

But the people who study in the archives and history know that,  so understood, the progress  is an unfinished concept, because it lacks the other side of the coin, namely,  the progress of society. Social progress has been very difficult to obtain in all Western societies, and as a result of fierce social struggles for political rights and democracy. So social progress is still a work in progress in this respect, not only in advanced industrial societies, but particularly out of them, viz. in those countries where there is insufficient income to meet minimum consumption needs.

As I have read  in The Businessman’ Handbook, the idea of progress is linked with the word civilization. Let me simply remark that today the word civilization is usually  written between quotation marks. This is a matter of great importance:

“People increasingly now use the word in quotation marks or with mocking sarcasm or speak not of progress in civilization but in barbarism” ( J. Colton).

And the most remarkable test of how  we are progressing toward barbarism are international and terrible new tragedies and  weapons, ruined economies and annihilation of the young generation. No one can deny these facts, because these facts are not debatable, taking place before the eyes of all. But today one would says that we can’t stop progress and civilization.

In the ‘Paean’ to the Invincible Businessman, I read:

“Men with strong individuality,

Are in demand everywhere,

As never before

In the history of the world!”

But had The Business Journal not assumed that history is a waste of time, and that we should live in the present?

What a ridiculous question!

Sources:

The Business Journal, October 1910, No 2, p. 10.

Colton, J., “Foreword,” in Progress and Its Discontents, Edited by G. Abraham, A. Chodorow & R. Harvey Pearce, University of California Press, 1982,  p. XI.