Men and women have shown themselves greater, nobler, stronger than
in the old days of peace I thought they could be.

It would not be very astonishing if the strain of war had called
forth a fresh greatness in those whose lives were already seen to
be in some way great; in our leaders, our teachers, our thinkers.
Or if an added nobility had appeared in our aristocracies of birth,
intellect, education, wealth, or whatever other accidents set men
above the mass of their fellows. Of such we expect a great response
to a great demand. And we have not been disappointed. The old
rule of life, NOBLESSE OBLIGE, has proved that it still possesses
driving force with the most of those to whom it applies. The thing
which has amazed me is the greatness of the common man.

This I in no way expected or looked for. I confess that, before
the war, I was no believer in the great qualities of those who are
called "the people." They seemed to me to be living lives either
selfish, sometimes brutal, always sordid; or else mean, narrow, and
circumscribed by senseless conventions. I believed that society,
if it progressed at all, would be forced forward by the few, that
the many had not in them the qualities necessary for advance, were
incapable of the far visions which make advance desirable. I know
now that I was wrong, and I have come to the faith that the hoe of
the future is in the common people who have shown themselves great.

So, I suppose, I may contribute to a book with such a title as
"The Defenders of Democracy." For now I am sure that democracy
has promise and hope in it. Only I am not sure that democracy has
even begun to understand itself. The common people have displayed
virtues so great that those who have seen them unite in a chorus