BYU Student 1: "Apparently if you draw a line with chalk, ants won't walk over it."Perhaps one of the most famous stories told on BYU campus it the story that illustrates Karl G. Maeser's sense of integrity. According to legend, Karl G. Maeser said the following:
BYU Student 2: "They're Karl G. Maeser ants."
"I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!"While I can appreciate the intent of this quote, I also wonder if it is overly celebrated. Wouldn't it just be better to say that he made a mistake and that it was stupid to stay in the circle and die? Isn't it better sometimes to be reasonable than principled? Isn't our willingness to say we are wrong and make changes every bit as worthy of celebration as zealous portrayals of virtue?
2 comments:
No, Maeser was simply a genius at loopholes. Everyone knows it's next to impossible to draw a perfect circle. The man was not bound to ellipses.
Kinda makes me wonder how they punish bad students at the Karl G. Maeser Academy. "Now you stand in that circle, young man, until you can....well, come to think of it, just stand there forever."
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