We
have to see whether we could not, within our widespread nationalities,
create communities by economic means, where something of the same sense
of solidarity of interest might be engendered and the same quality of
life maintained. I am greatly ambitious for the rural community. But
it is no use having mean ambitions. Unless people believe the result of
their labors will result in their equaling or surpassing the best that
has been done elsewhere, they will never get very far. We in Ireland
are in quest of a civilization. It is a great adventure, the building up
of a civilization--the noblest which could be undertaken by any persons.
It is at once the noblest and the most practical of all enterprises, and
I can conceive of no greater exaltation for the spirit of man than the
feeling that his race is acting nobly; and that all together are
performing a service, not only to each other, but to humanity and those
who come after them, and that their deeds will be remembered. It may
seem a grotesque juxtaposition of things essentially different in
character, to talk of national idealism and then of farming, but it is
not so.
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