The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-02-20
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONTENT

This mundane sphere possesses a
plethora of people who are soured on
it and on themselves; all that is good,
sweet, enjoyable seems to have lost
its glamour and attractiVeness; most
things are to be looked upon with
suspicious questioning because, for
sooth, these keen observers have dis
covered that not everything is what
it purports to be. Thousands have
the distressing habit of grooming
silently to themselves, and quite aud
IDLY to others, and the burden OF their
refrain is, Things are not what they
SEEM" And still this disgusting hab-
it is but an exaggerated form Of a
weakness very common to all of us,
the propensity to note faults and fail
ures where by contrast the cheerfully
inclined and well disposed can OBJ
serve success.
Self-appointed critics do not fit into
the run. Of things, and while they
maintain that they seek merely to bet
ter themselves and others, the root
of the matter, the real explanation of
their conduct is that they are discon-
tented with their lot in life. They
have set an immense value ION "a
higher salary, more leisure, greater
fame or some other equally easily
ruptured bauble. Life to them is a
chance to "get things" merely be-
cause someone else is enjoying them.
Life is made for action, for the ,ac-
QUESTION of good repute aud money,
for notoriety; this they proclaim con-
stantly by the plans they hatch as
we'll as by the plans that fail.
What contrast to those who live
such lives are the lives Of those who
know the philosophy of content.
These seek their daily work and the
spirit with which they assume their
accustomed duties elevates it into the
realms of prayer and sacrifice. They
inure themselves to the setbacks OF
| life, take things as they come Or as
they go with feeling that all the
little trials and discouragements
| tribulationS and sufferings are means
! offered them to climb the stairs OF
self-regulation. They never bemoan
the curtailment of their liberty. never
seek to reflect upon the ability or
wisdom of their superiors. They dc
not deplOre the darkness of the world
nor the evil proclivities of the people
surrounding them; but, they make OF
what dreariness there happens to be
a background for the light that shines
day by day. and if "perchance there
comes dark day, they Immediately
make comparison with the bright
days that have gone before, not tC
| demonstrate that today. is "a dark day
but there have been, not SO long. ago
bright days, and there will be others
soon.
What a beauty there is i'll suct
lives! What an inspiration they are
| to people inclined by nature. to seeA
{ the dusky side of things and persons!
How they. contrast with the habitually
disgruntled, the chronically unsatis
fed! A mind attuned to good things
soon learns to see them without eff
fort. If we can but persuade our
selves of this, there will come into
our lives greater degree Of humo1
and content. No great strain is re
quired to bring them, for sunshine
diffuses itself with amazing rapidly
in all directions. If We give it a Iodg
ing in our thoughts, if we make
brightness a state of mind, life will
take on a new meaning, greater pos
sibilities will present themselves an6
they will produce for US more lasting
benefit.
All hail, then, to the philosophy Of
| content!