If He Is

An essay from G.K. Chesterton begins, "In all
the current controversies people begin at the
wrong end as readily as at the right end; never
stopping to consider which is really the end."
In a world impressed with its ability to create
and own high-tech carts, putting the cart before
the horse is beginning to seem natural. Even
thoughtful people seem to have forgotten how
to think. Chesterton continues, "One very
common form of the blunder is to make modern
conditions an absolute end and then try to
fit human necessities to that end, as if they
were only a means. Thus people say, 'Home
life is not suited to the business life of today.'
Which is as if they said, 'Heads are not suited
to the sort of hats now in fashion.'" Cutting
off heads to meet the shrinkage of hats is hardly
fixing what we might call the "Hat Problem."

This reverse of end and means is not entirely
a modern problem, though the trend does
seem to be increasing. As C.S. Lewis once
observed, logic seems no longer to be valued
as a subject in our schools. This is startling
when you consider how much we seem to
value the constant surge of information.

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