The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-10-31
THE SUSPICIOUS ATTITUDE.

There are some people who maintain al
all times suspicious attitude. They have
learned so thoroughly that "things are MOI
always what they seem" that they are in
chronic state Of doubt. They carry to ar
extreme the caution that all should observe
in dealing with those with whom they have
taken no bond of friendship; sometimes
indeed, they go so far as to be suspicious Of
their friends and on the lookout for bidder
motives and selfish purposes. The common
sayings Of people usually contain bits Of
true philosophy; such saying as thai
which represents too suspicious man as
thinking that everybody is like himself
Men Judge others by their knowledge Of
humanity. If they are observant, studious
and thoughtful they may gather great dea
of such knowledge from others, but Their
main source of information as to the work
ings Of human nature is derived from
themselves. They get, at best, more OF
less superficial views of other people, but
they know the secret springs of their own
actions, and in applying knowledge derived
from all sources to judging others, they
necessarily attribute to those others such
qualities Of mind and heart as they them
selves possess. 1t is therefore true that
the man who is unduly suspicious of the
honor of others, who distrusts even his
friends and is always seeking for selfish
and hidden motives for acts that appear
most generous, exposes himself to the sus-
picion that he is himself the mean, ignoble
creature his fancy paints. Artists who do
not use models as subjects for their sketches
are said to unconsciously adopt their own
family type of face-or that type with
which they are most familiar-to such an
extent that their pictures may be recog-
nized by the family liken ess. In the same
way we may imagine that men picture in
their minds fancy figures of other men
moulded after their own kind. The abnor-
mally suspicious man distrusts his fellow
man because he is himself untrustworthy
and uses his own type as model from
which to obtain conception Of the char
acter OF his fellowmen. The right atti-
tude for men TO assume toward each other
is one OF trust to those who have proved
to be trustworthy, of suspicion toward those
who are known to have engaged in double
dealing, and of strict neutrality toward the
unknown or improved. Too great trust
fulness is not to be commended, though as
opposed to too great suspicion it leads to-
ward the side of virtue; but trust of those
who have proved themselves worthy of it
is matter Of justice, and necessary to the
close association of men and women in a
highly developed state of society. Occa-
sionally such trust will prove to have been
misplaced and harm may come of it, but
the exceptions are so few when the rule is
observed to trust only those who have
proved themselves worthy of it that they
need not be regarded. To maintain an
attitude of neutrality is not such an easy
matter as to be either suspicious or trust
full, because of the natural tendency to
judge men and their motives by the knowl-
edge one has obtained of humanity in gen.
eral. Yet it is simple matter of justice
to the individual that he should be tried by
himself, not by the standing of other peo-
pie, and he should neither be viewed with
suspicion or accepted as trustworthy until
he has been put to some kind of proof
Whatever ones mental attitude may be as
to other people it is especially unfair to
give expression to ones Judgment of the
character or motives of another without
occasion therefor and without evidence to
sustain that Judgment. The observance of
this rule would do away with a great deal
of petty hbeling. prevent quarrels and
MISUNDERSTANDING, and thus promote the
happiness of society. The worst feature of
the suspicious man is that he seldom keeps
his suspicious to himself, but without any,
thing to sustain his judgment save his in
depreciation of human character in general.
drops hints of the deficiencies of his fellow
creatures that poison the atmosphere in
which they live. Therefore, while trying
to maintain in ones own mind the right
attitude toward the people one meets,
special care must be taken not to do inius-
tlce to any one by giving expression to
thoughts that have no substantial basis.
The subject is summed up in that we'll
spring of good counsel, the advice of
Polonius to his son:
''Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
BE thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,