Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1914-10-14
MEDl0CRITY'S BLESSINGS.

M6uiUChIIr , bl6SSINGS.
Two women had been friends and CO.
workers for years. One married and moved
away. Four years later the other came
to visit for the first time. She walked
around the little house marvelling audiblv
at what she saw.
'But. M dear, how do Won d. II! Your
house 4 all in order, just ~ n You did
nothing else Nh day but YOU look after Il.
Yet Won write and write. | always thought
literary g~euiu-es lived ia a mes. And
here are YOU and Henry. both literary gen
fuses. and ! find a %restful. orderly home
and q beautifully served table. and vour
children well mothcrcd-how DO Won do
lit!"
by beng mediocre" replied the hostess.
Let a. grant M once that Henry may ~
4 literary genius. I'm not. I'm iu>t \
Observation-Disclosures and master of none.
am very lar from being a 100 per cent per
feet housekeepcr. You can iind flaws All
over n You look for them. And neither
am anything like a genius. There are
plenty ~ flaws in my writing. It's quite
possible that III | were really 4 genius al
either Of those trades should be incom-
petcnt nj everything else. BY being mere
Y mediocre | get away with them both /:
md even IT ! am only 80 or 81 per cent
perfect ~ either Of them. / enjoy them
both, and my family enjoys mc much more
than n ! were one sided and perfect.
Blessed b. mcdiocrity.''
Was she right! For herself and fam
NY manlfestly she was. Every one has to
work out his own problem in accordance
with the conditions given for hi own HE.
No one can decide these things for another.
The only test J. whether the individual
radintc~ good and happiness ~ those
around him. Or evil and the blues.
This woman was well and happy. 81
was her family. Which proved that ~hc
had regulated her life Alright. And she
~poke the truth when she said she was no
genus. She was simply an ordinary wom-
m who was not afraid to use what ability
she had because II was not VI the highest
lgrade.
And - few people in all the world have
ability Of the grade of genius. And 80
many are afraid to do their best with what
they havei Most of H. are mediocre. When
Lincoln exclaimed that God must have
loved the common people. 'bccau,c ne had
made - many ~ them Ne might a. well
have said the ordinary people, the mediocre
ones.
Then why be ashamed of mediocritv9
Why not recognize that after all. most Of
u are never going To rise far above the
common level intellectually or any other
way; hut that II every mediocre person
doe hi level hest IT, improve such talents
a~ ~ ha> ~ the very upward limit vi nj,
possible efficiency. after q while the COM
mon level itself may be raised.
That's what We need in America. No,
that here and there a head my be raised
high above the common herd. with the pos
>%ibilltieS which that implies of false social
or intellectual caste. We want aI our
heads raised higher. We want the stand
ards ~ the mediocre common people II
the next generation Ia be- u little higher. \
little finer than those % u mediocre ones
today.
Tins can not be done bv hanging back
md saving: whats the use Of irving my
hand M that. | can never a. anvthiur
wonderful anyhow suppose you don't ~
anything wonderful" You can raise vour
own standard and perhaps that of D few
people near YOU.
ri
Then, the genius i always a lonely soul.
misunderstood aud hnrdened heavily with
ihc world sorrow. We ordinary folk NAV
have companiouo-hip and AT the little iov-
IN IRE ~ W - along. There are. indeed.
comrrnsfitlon- and blessing IN mcdiocritv