Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1911-02-10
LIVING UP TO WHAT OTHERS
THINK ABOUT us,

. - N~SSs 49,
Happiness, 1t Is often said, is as
much a duty as to look up to the
Creator in thankfulness for the G lo-
rious privilege of life. But to get
true and lasting happiness, we must
not only develop every latent pos
sibility of our being but more es-
pecially so to fit ourselves that we
can give genuine satisfaction and
pleasure to others. 1t becomes
clear then, that one of the legltl-
mate and important aims of every
human life is to learn to be pleas
ing. That, in reality, is the secret
of every successful and unselhsh
life. What, indeed, may be con-
sidered the advantages of life are
just those things that tend to make
us more acceptable to others.
When we hear the expressions
Il don't care what other people
think; l am going to do as | please, .
Il am not going to be subservient
to other peoples views, l am re-
sponsible for my own life," Il be-
lieve in independence and in going
your own way, despite the opinions
of Others" and, in short, The
public be damned" We are pretty
sure of living lie; both the life of
the individual and the manner and
matter of the contemptuous ex-
pressions condemn his expressed
attitude. At best they are but at
tempted apologies for conscious in
discretions. Such words are not
common, except with one who real
ICES deep down in his heart that he
has violated some of the proprie-
ties of human society.
Is it a sign of weakness to- live up
to the good others expect of us?
Rather, it seems to us, that it is a
manifest duty. If others have a
right to expect big, fine, and true
things of us, it is our part to make
every effort possible to enable those
expectations to be realized. There
can be no merit in violating thelaw
and observances of society; human
relations are pretty we'll establish
ed; and there is, except to the NOR
ally perverted, a consciousness of
right in things as they are. The
same heart beats in every human
breast. To make a practice of 60
| ing off at tangent, and to empha-
sizing eccentricities can, in no
sense, be regarded as an evidence
of sound intellectual development.
But to be in the right relations with
things and to accept local condi-
tions, as far as they do not wrong
fully infringe upon what you hon
estly believe to be morally right,
can be nothing else but a proper
sense of adjustment; and in the end
will bring the peace of soul that is
the best reward of a we'll spent life.
The boosted honesty and free
dom from hypocrisy that is the usu-
al explanation of those who lack
diplomacy and the power of adap-
tation is frequently paraded as ey-
idence of sincerity and intellectual
independence. When sifted fine
enough, they are quite often found
to be mere blinds for a more SER
ious lack of genuineness. People
who are thoroughly honorable and
trustworthy are the ones to make
the least claim for themselves.
Nor is there, to our minds, any
sacrifice of manhood and personal
freedom in conducting ourselves in
accordance with the expectations
of our acquaintance. 1t seems to
US that we are merely fulfilling one
of the purposes of life, and are GER
tainly adding to the pleasure and
satisfaction of those who come into
daily contact with us. There is on
the other hand, a sort of self-exal-
tation in the insistence of the cor
rectness of our views, and the pro-
nouncement of a wholesale condem-
nation on those of others. And
lack of congeniality is most usually
the cry of the narrower souls; big,
broad-minded, we'll developed peo-
ple-fnd or create congeniality ev-
erywhere.