The Washington herald., 1910-06-19
On Disappointment.

II uSSu 70 DC Sdlu huat HotHlli5 ID sure
in this world byt death and taxation"
and 10 that We may add that, however
humble our desires and aspirations, we
arc sure to meet with many disappoint-
ments before we gain them. It is not
infrequent TO hear men quote with q GER
tain glibness. blessed is he that ex-
peeteth Httle." but the truth of 1t seldom
applies, for man is so constituted that he
expects much. It Is right that this
should be so; that we should pitch our
expectations high; not blindly and with
fatuous hope reaching out for things be-
yond our grasp. but fitting ourselves with
care and patience and knowledge to be
fit for whatever We expect, If good for
tune brings it 10 us.
II is in the disappointments that meet
US on the march of life that the human
spirit thrives. AS Goethe said:
All men are disappointed in their hopes
and expectations. Is life calculated only
by its gains and losses? Who has not
made arrangement on arrangement and
has not seen them broken TO pieces? How
often does man not strike into q road
only 10 lose II again. How often are we
not turned aside from the point which We
had sharply before our eyes, but only 20
reach some higher stage! The traveller,
10 his greatest annoyance, breaks a
wheel upon the journey, and through this
unexpected accident makes some charm
ms acquaintance and forms some new
connection which has influence on all his
life"
This is but to say, In other words, that
we are all creatures OF circumstance:
subject to fortune and doomed often to
miss the goal at which we aim But If
we have clear-sightedness enough to rec
ognize this truth, and if circumstance
reach for US with that fell clutch" of
which the poet. w. f. Henley. speaks.
we shall be able to endure bravely. Like
Henley. we shall not vince nor cry
aloud" but bear our disappointment
nobly and find blessing in It,
To the life in which all happened as
one expected or hoped, there would soon
come a sort of moral stagnation. With
no great difficulties to overcome. ones
hepe and heart would become atrophied,
and q man might as well be a peaceful
COW, chewing the cud in the sunshine and
waiting for the end. II needs. for the
human soul. the keen pain of bitter dis
appointment to rouse the best that is IN
our souls. Stevenson recognized this
when he appealed TO The Celestial Sur
geon:''
If have faitered more or less
In ms great task Of happiness:
II I have moved among my race
And shown no glorious morning face;
If beams from happy human eyes
Have moved me not; II morning skies,
Books and nv food and summer rain
Knocked On my sullen heart in vain
Lord. Thy most pointed pleasure take
And stab my spirit broad awake
Or Lord, IL too obdurste l.
Choose Thou, before that spirit die,
A piercing pain a killing sin
aud to my dead heart Fun them in"
But fortunately there are keen disap-
pointments for all of us-disappointments
that instead Of making US sullen and
hopeless shall rouse Abe spirit within us
to front what remains. 1t is not dis
appointment, Of course, to find when We
SOW dragons teeth that we reap disas-
ter-that was 10 be expected. To SOW
kindness and TO reap unkindness; to SOW
love and TO garner hate-these are the
real disappointments of life against
which no care or prayer of ours will
avail
But the virtue of the thing lies here:
Life is not thing of set and bounden
due in return; so much revenge sought;
so much hatred TO be paid. The virtue
lies in realizing that in spite of all our
efforts and strivings. all our deservings,
we may never reap the reward. Realz-
ing that this is but natural, and that
eompensations are to be looked for else
where. We shall cultivate a spirit that
shall be able to meet any disappointment
In life, face it down with laugh. and
turn it to our profit.
II is only the coward who. faring
through life, fears to take a step lest he
fall into some sin or danger. To such one
disappointment may seem a thing to be
avoided leS his spirit be crushed to
earth. But the brave man always viii
greet the unseen with cheer" taste
of disappointment with a rare gusto as
if it were the very salt of life. and so.
with renewed spirit and bounding heart,
80 forward on the road. armed against
fate and with keen appetite for large
adventure.