When people are so closely dependent upon one another conflicts are likely to occur.  Sometimes they are due to selfish disregard by some persons of the rights and interests of others; but more often they are due simply to failure to see what the real results of a particular act may be and how it may affect other people.  It was not dreamed that the building of airplanes would affect the price of underwear and fish, and it was only after careful investigation that the relation between these things was discovered.  A family that is careless in the disposal of refuse from the household and stables may unconsciously poison the wells of neighbors half a mile away.  Sometimes men oppose public improvements, such as better roads, or a new schoolhouse, because they see only the direct costs of the improvements, and fail to see the more important losses to themselves and to the community if the improvements are not made.

DANGER OF HASTY JUDGMENTS

One thing we may learn from such facts as these is the danger of forming hasty judgments about things that happen, or conditions that exist, or proposals that are made, in our community life.  Even those conditions or events that are apparently most simple may be related to other conditions and events that are not at first apparent.  Wise judgment and wise action are dependent upon the most complete knowledge obtainable.

We shall see, as we proceed with our study, how this fact of interdependence appears in every phase of our community life.

From observation in your own community, give illustrations to show how people, in attempting to satisfy their own wants, may interfere with the efforts of others to satisfy theirs.  The following are given as suggestions: 

An employer and those whom he employs.

A man who owns a house or farm and the tenant to whom he rents it.

A man who keeps a livery stable adjoining a schoolhouse.

A grocer who displays his goods on the sidewalk (especially food products).

Men who raise cattle and those who raise sheep on the western ranges.

A boy who raises chickens and one who has a garden adjoining.

Suppose a schoolmate comes to school with measles or some other contagious disease.  How may this affect your schoolwork? your association with your friends?  How may it even add to your father’s expenses?

Show that your schoolmates are as dependent upon you as you are upon them.

Is the community in which you live dependent upon you in any way?  Give illustrations.

Taxpayers like to keep the tax rate as low as possible.  In their interest in doing this, is it possible that they might interfere with your getting a good education in favorable surroundings?  Explain.  Who are the taxpayers?

We often hear of “self-made men.”  What does it mean?  Can a man be entirely “self-made”?