  Cooper asserts, “Life must be more than dilettante speculation” (VAJC, 194). Rather than talking as a spectator, you ought to lead, finance, and live what you believe.  Taking up some of the racial debates of that time, Cooper argues that one’s actions should follow from one’s beliefs. If you believe that “…the Negro race in America has a veritable destiny in His [God’s] eternal purposes”… then time should not be wasted on “discussing the ‘Negro Problem’ amid the clouds of your fine Havana, ensconced in your friend’s well-cushioned arm-chair and with your patent leather boot-tips elevated to the opposite mantle” (VAJC, 194). If you believe that “God hath made one blood of all nations of the earth; and that interests which specialize and contract broad, liberal, cosmopolitan idea of universal brotherhood and equality are narrow and pernicious, then treat that truth as true” (VAJC, 194). Cooper asks philosophers and thinkers to be consistent in applying their positions and expressing their beliefs. She advises, “Don’t inveigh against lines of longitude drawn by others when at the same time you are applying your genius to devising lines of latitude which are neither race lines, nor character lines, nor intelligence lines—but certain social-appearance circlets assorting your ‘universal brotherhood’ by shapes of noses and texture of hair” (VAJC, 194). Cooper continues, “If you object to imaginary lines—don’t draw them! Leave only the real lines of nature and character” (VAJC, 195). She concludes by returning to the import of the power of belief, “If thou believest, all things are possible; and as thou believest, so be it to thee” (VAJC, 196).