Years ago there was a missionary in Africa by the name of Dan Crawford. He was returning from Africa to the United States one time, and to do so he was leaving the inner part of the country, where he worked, to go out to the coast to catch his ship. So he would not have to make the trip alone, four of the men to whom he had ministered walked with him. As they walked, Crawford told his friends about the glories of the coast. He told them about the light that did not have flame, about wagons that did not have animals, and about storing their food so that it would not spoil.

As he walked and talked, three of the men entered into the conversation. The fourth man, however, seemed strangely unimpressed. And after a few days, as they were sitting one evening, Crawford found it irritating that this one man did not seem at all excited about getting to the city. He said to him, "Aren't' you eager to get there? I mean, don't you want to see all these things?" That black brother responded with a word that I wish could be put into the schoolbooks of our nation. He said, "Mr. Crawford, to be better off is not to be better."