Quote of the Day: Following the Crowd

 

“The one that follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has never been.: — Albert Einstein

Being in the crowd is comfortable. It tends to be low risk. It is also usually low reward. But it seems like the safe choice. If you believe in safety, you tend to stay in the crowd. It is the zebra or gazelle that is outside the herd that gets hunted down, the bomber that falls out of the formation that gets swarmed by fighters.

If you walk alone, follow your own path, you do discover things that no one else has, find yourself in places where others have not been. It can be hazardous, as the lone zebra or crippled bomber attest. Yet it can also be rewarding. You might, as Einstein did, make discoveries that change the world. Or simply find something that gives you great pleasure or a sense of accomplishment. As illustrated in the following Kipling poem.

The Explorer – Rudyard Kipling

"There's no sense in going further - it's the edge of cultivation," 
  So they said, and I believed it - broke my land and sowed my crop -
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station 
  Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop:

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes 
  On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated - so:
"Something hidden.  Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges - 
"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

So I went, worn out of patience; never told my nearest neighbours -
  Stole away with pack and ponies - left 'em drinking in the town;
And the faith that moveth mountains didn't seem to help my labours
  As I faced the sheer main-ranges, whipping up and leading down.

March by march I puzzled through 'em, turning flanks and dodging shoulders,
  Hurried on in hope of water, headed back for lack of grass;
Till I camped above the tree-line - drifted snow and naked boulders - 
  Felt free air astir to windward - knew I'd stumbled on the Pass.

'Thought to name it for the finder: but that night the Norther found me -
  Froze and killed the plains-bred ponies; so I called the camp Despair
(It's the Railway Gap to-day, though). Then my Whisper waked to hound me: -
  "Something lost behind the Ranges.  Over yonder! Go you there!"

Then I knew, the while I doubted - knew His Hand was certain o'er me. 
  Still - it might be self-delusion - scores of better men had died -
I could reach the township living, but ... He knows what terror tore me...
  But I didn't... but I didn't. I went down the other side.

Till the snow ran out in flowers, and the flowers turned to aloes,
  And the aloes sprung to thickets and a brimming stream ran by;
But the thickets dwined to thorn-scrub, and the water drained to shallows,
  And I dropped again on desert - blasted earth, and blasting sky....

I remember lighting fires; I remember sitting by 'em;
  I remember seeing faces, hearing voices, through the smoke;
I remember they were fancy - for I threw a stone to try 'em.
  "Something lost behind the Ranges" was the only word they spoke.

I remember going crazy. I remember that I knew it
When I heard myself hallooing to the funny folk I saw.
'Very full of dreams that desert, but my two legs took me through it... 
And I used to watch 'em moving with the toes all black and raw.

But at last the country altered - White Man's country past disputing -
  Rolling grass and open timber, with a hint of hills behind -
There I found me food and water, and I lay a week recruiting.
  Got my strength and lost my nightmares.  Then I entered on my find.

Thence I ran my first rough survey - chose my trees and blazed and ringed 'em -
  Week by week I pried and sampled - week by week my findings grew.
Saul he went to look for donkeys, and by God he found a kingdom !
  But by God, who sent His Whisper, I had struck the worth of two ! 

Up along the hostile mountains, where the hair-poised snowslide shivers - 
  Down and through the big fat marshes that the virgin ore-bed stains,
Till I heard the mile-wide mutterings of unimagined rivers,
  And beyond the nameless timber saw illimitable plains ! 

'Plotted sites of future cities, traced the easy grades between 'em;
  Watched unharnessed rapids wasting fifty thousand head an hour;
Counted leagues of water-frontage through the axe-ripe woods that screen 'em -
  Saw the plant to feed a people - up and waiting for the power!

Well, I know who'll take the credit - all the clever chaps that followed -
  Came, a dozen men together - never knew my desert-fears;
Tracked me by the camps I'd quitted, used the water-holes I hollowed.
  They'll go back and do the talking. They'll be called the Pioneers !

They will find my sites of townships - not the cities that I set there.
  They will rediscover rivers - not my rivers heard at night.
By my own old marks and bearings they will show me how to get there,
  By the lonely cairns I builded they will guide my feet aright.

Have I named one single river? Have I claimed one single acre ? 
  Have I kept one single nugget - (barring samples)? No, not I !
Because my price was paid me ten times over by my Maker.
  But you wouldn't understand it. You go up and occupy.

Ores you'll find there; wood and cattle; water-transit sure and steady 
  (That should keep the railway rates down), coal and iron at your doors.
God took care to hide that country till He judged His people ready,
  Then He chose me for His Whisper, and I've found it, and it's yours !

Yes, your "Never-never country" - yes, your "edge of cultivation" 
  And "no sense in going further" - till I crossed the range to see.
God forgive me! No, I didn't. It's God's present to our nation.
 Anybody might have found it, but - His Whisper came to Me!
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 6 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    My favorite of Kipling’s poems. Thanks for sharing it.

    • #1
  2. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    My favorite of Kipling’s poems. Thanks for sharing it.

    I’m living it right now working on the Lunar Gateway project.

    • #2
  3. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    I myself am a Picard guy.

    “To boldy go where no one has gone before.” I will always love that line.

    • #3
  4. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Haven’t seen that poem referenced since high school.

    • #4
  5. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    “Well, I know who’ll take the credit – all the clever chaps that followed – Came, a dozen men together – never knew my desert-fears; Tracked me by the camps I’d quitted, used the water-holes I hollowed. They’ll go back and do the talking. They’ll be called the Pioneers !”

    Discovery and development—which do you credit most? Sometimes one, sometimes the other. But there can be no development without discovery. 

    • #5
  6. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Haven’t seen that poem referenced since high school.

    It is not politically correct today – and probably not since the 1980s. People doing great things on their own, without the assistance of the government? Absolutely NOT!

    • #6
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.