It is useful to remind ourselves how often people of high reputation can get things wrong. Opinions about Stalin written in the years 1929-34, when he was in the process of liquidating ten million Russians as part of the collectivization of agriculture and farms, bear out the point. H.G. Wells said he had “never met a man more candid, fair and honest…no one is afraid of him and everybody trusts him.” Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury, described him as leading “his people down new and unfamiliar avenues of democracy.”
The American Ambassador, Josephine Davies, reported him as having “insisted on the liberalization of the constitution. His brown eyes, exceedingly wise and gentle; a child would like to sit on his lap and a dog would sidle up to him.” Emile Ludwig, the famous popular biographer, found him to be a man “to whose care I would readily confide the education of my children.”
No matter who says what, no matter how small the group that supports your point of view, never fail to follow the voice of your conscience.
JEP Journal – 1994 – Principles of Life_022012
