It is better to wear out than to rust out

Vox Pop

It is better to wear out than to rust out I have been asked by colleagues recently and some mates how I have time to write for a number of publications. My reply has always been; first of all, I enjoy writing and most importantly, that it is better to wear out than to rust out. Plus, it is gobsmackingly hard to ignore or feel any camaraderie with those who ignore medical facts and the truth.

It is over two thousand years since this problem was first posed by the old Greeks, in their “dialectics” or amateur debating societies which gathered round the old teachers. A later Roman writer posed the problem in the same way, saying, “If you exercise the brain, it is worn out. If you do not exercise it, it gathers rust”.

This is rather obscured by the doubtful use of words. Is a thing worn out by using it? It may be, in the long run, but sometimes it is worn out a great deal faster by not using it. A motor car, and that will be more likely to appeal as an illustration in our modern age, is kept in the best condition by moderate and careful use. Keep it shut up in the garage, and all kinds of unfavorable changes will set in and the car will suffer damage. It is the law of Nature that all material things wear out, whether they are used or not. The young man with health and strength goes joyfully to his work and his games. He expends freely the energy that is coursing through him. By expending that energy, he gets more. The car is drawing on the energy of the battery all the time it runs, and, as it runs, it keeps re-charging the battery.

So it is with the physical body. As muscle is exercised, the heart is stimulated to send a fresh blood supply through that muscle, and to repair the waste. New muscle- fibers appear, and the muscle becomes stronger and fitter. The organism cries out for nourishment to replace the energy expended in muscle-action, and this is what we call a good appetite. To exercise the physical body to a reasonable amount is far better than to allow it to become soft and flabby by inaction.

It is thus with the mind. The mind of man is a higher part of him than his physical body, and it must be set to work to give of its best. Nothing is able to reach its best through inactivity. Shakespeare realized that, and tells us in Hamlet that our reason is God-like, and must not be allowed to decay in us unused.

Indeed if there is any lesson to be learned in Nature, it is that, if man does not put to active use any of his powers, that power will in course of time be withdrawn.

In life, we see that many a man is unable to cope with the dull inactivity that comes when he retires from work. His life seems a void, destitute of purpose, and he finds that the days are tedious and without interest. In the long run, having no work to occupy him, he is compelled to look around for a hobby. Many find their greatest pleasure in doing voluntary and unpaid work for the good of others. We are told in the science laboratory that “Nature abhors a vacuum”, and it is strikingly illustrated in the gradual decay and dullness that comes into a life lacking the stimulus of endeavor and purpose.

Time is only a relative thing, the scientists tell us. That may be so, but time which is not filled with active endeavor can be dreary and soul-destroying. We are but mortal creatures and we are here in the present life for a limited term . It does not matter whether we struggle hard or sit down and try to conserve our powers. How much more glorious is it to fill it with honest toil, with continual endeavor to fulfill the purpose for which we are here. Depend on it, there is a purpose in life. Of most tasks it may be said that if one neglects them, there will be the need to come back and finish them. Semper Fidelis — Dr. Osmond Ekwueme, Medford