Every Man A King
by Harvey Newbranch

Omaha World-Herald, November 1921

Why shouldn't we imitate?

     This question may well be asked in view of the advice given by Willa Sibert Cather, distinguished Nebraska author, in her lecture here.

     "It seems to me as I travel out through the great middle west, the people are trying to imitate New York," Miss Cather said. Her observing eyes have seen the smaller cities aping the greater. And she pleads for development of individuality.

     If New York is successful and truly great, would it not be proper to copy that city's industry, gaiety, seriousness, and sadness? Should we not even imitate a great personality?

     Decidedly not. Imitations are never the original. And counterfeits are an abomination. Monkeys imitate; so do children until they grow up and learn to reason. Intelligence seeks the cause and tries to discover principles. Where there is complete agreement between an individual's standards and those of his community, it is proper for him to conform. But he cannot agree with custom that is opposed to his essential idea of what is right without becoming an improper person.

     The proper person seeks full expression of the essential qualities of his being. If a community or even the world does not give him room, he is apt to be called an improper person. But so long as he remains sincere and devoted to the standard of what he considers correct, he is proper to himself even if he is not to the community standard.

     To men who are really proper, the race owes whatever progress it has made. The so-called "proper" person, who bows to conventional modes of conduct because it is considered right, regardless of whether it is, is among the host of imitators who contribute nothing to progress.

     When the race, the community, or the individual becomes more interested in discovering principles that are eternal, many old customs will be reverenced more highly; many will be abandoned and viewed as moss-grown ruins of the medieval age.

    The desire must be to discover the spirit that made men, cities, and nations great. And again, tradition must be challenged in the reputation it has given outstanding men. The individualist travels a rugged road. Perhaps it is best so. The imitator of others may travel a safer and easier road, but he is not entitled to wear the crown jewels.

     Miss Cather, as Omaha had an opportunity to learn during her short visit, practices what she preaches. She had the courage to be simply and frankly herself. She proclaims the truth as she sees it, serenely indifferent whether her angle of vision be that of the multitude or not. She does not strive to make "a good impression" in the conventional sense. She would scorn to resort to protective coloration. Her passion is to express herself, to reveal, as she sees it, human life with its joys and sorrows, its frailties and beauty, its needs, its aspirations, its rights that dignify it, honestly and with candor.

     It is this essential integrity of mind and soul that has made it possible for Willa Cather to do work worthwhile, work that will live. The world is surfeited with people who do not care to be themselves, who are afraid to trust their own minds, who let others do their thinking for them, and regulate their living for them, and form their flabby characters for them. Whether writers or what not, they count in the census figures and in doing the necessary humdrum work of the world--and that is about all that they count. Progress toward beauty and truth depends on those who know themselves and are themselves, who carry their hearts on their sleeves.

     Nebraska may well be proud of Willa Cather. She is sprung from its soil. She was taught in its schools. Her soul was given texture and form on its sweeping plains, under its clear skies, in contact with the hardy pioneers who subdued its frontiers. And her voice, at once brave and tender in its sympathy, is like a refreshing breeze from its illimitable spaces, carrying invigoration for every human life where cowardice and cant and hypocrisy have wrought their soul-destroying work