The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-01-25
says UNCLE CIV

1t is not good to approach any sub
ject with preconceived notions, much
less the general business of life. Most
of our troubles arise from a conflict
between life and the thing we believe
lie TO De. 1t may be our religion, our
politlcs, our morals, our science or our
notlons OF conduct to which the trou-
Ole is due. The greater number of
men begin the struggle of existence
loaded down with huge Quantities of
transformation. This does not neces-
sar1ly wreck a life, but too often it
uoes' Tor the average man, is cursed
with reverence for his own opinion
that does not permit him to become
amenable to reason or even to the in
fluence of facts though they smite
him.
F'etishism is not dead, though we
are fond of saying that it is. We still
worship our mental fatiShes, dare our
nelghbors to show us the error of orr
ways srleVe because we cannot make
circumstances fit into our theories and
go mad because our little DhiIosoDbies.
fail to work out. Our immense con-
celt blinds us to the fact that we
i nave been working on false premises
lnst1IIed into our minds in childhood.
and nourished by the same conceft
that prevents us even now from seeing
them in their real colors.
he That approaches the problems
of life with an open mind finds little
difficulty. He has no idols to serve
no dogmaS to defend, no fanaticisns
to justify. He wants facts and il
there is anything that the life simple.
or the life complex is prodigaI Of IL
is facts. The hunger burden of the
worlds woe is not in the facts of life
put in the discrepancy between those
tacts and what we stubbornly contend
those facts to be. We never quite out
grow that sacred connection of fact.
fiction, hope and prejudice that was
fed to our infant intellects in the
name of training" at mothers knee
Because we do not recognize these
ideas as the mistakes of others rather
than our own conclusions, we continue
to worship and to defend them with
all the frenzy of the paranoiac. And
an OF us are paranoiac upon one sub
Ject or another.
The lad who has been taught that
IL is merely enough to be honest, will
know the meaning of heartache before
he learns the inadequacy of that pre-
scrlption for success. There are no
ravens to feed the virtuous inconn-
petent today. We have to hustle for
what we get, and the lesson is a pain
full one.
He that has been taught 70 believa
that merit is appreciated spontaneous
~ may go through life hating the gem
tie art of advertising, to die forIorn
and embittered at last. There is
hope for him only if he learns from
his hard knocks that strength must
carry a shining shield and that no
intellect can afford to hide it's light
under a bushel.
The preconceived notion is a
shackle. The only sane mind is the
open one. The best training for youth
is not that which contemplates fasten-
ing upon him the principles of any
system, religious, moral, or industrial,
but that which shall open his eyes to
things that exist and enable him to
draw his conclusions for himself It
is easier on the victim to be hammer
ed into correct living by the blows of
circumstances than it is to be ham
mered out of error and into right
eousness. The man with preconcefved
notions may fancy himself to be NOR
ally and mentally responsible, but in
reality he has been doomed from in
fancy to servitude. hard knocks. con-
fusion and heartbreaks.