The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1915-09-02
LOST IDEALS.

LOST IDEALS.
We cannot achieve very much in this
life without our ideals. They come to US
in early youth and ''grow up'' with US, as
it we're, and to lose any one of them IS
serious matter, while to be bereft of all has
been described as worse than death. The
latter condition is, indeed, living death
because the man who has nothing to live
I'D to. who takes no interest in life and sees
nothing in it, might just as we'll be dead
and gone. We are all heirs Of sorrow but
we are also heirs of joy and hope and hap
piness and we must learn to take things as
thew come and to make the best of what
ever condition offers ITSELF Our ideals
stand for great deal and help to make US
better contented when reverses and sorrow
come. They turn the light upon our very
souls and make US see beyond the present.
We depend upon them in many ways and
we work them into our best achievements,
not 10 a boastful or superior way but with
a confidence that knows no fears. Natur-
ally when we start out in life we build our
hopes high, but we rear them sometimes
upon insure foundations. We create ideals
for ourselves and unconsciously use them
as the standards for our best efforts and
when we are able to reach these standards
we work with high purpose and steady re-
solve. We love our ideals then and point
with pride to the part they play in our lives
and we realize thate but for their influence
we could not have set our hopes so high.
Under such circumstances we cling to them
and they mean more to US perhaps than any
other one influence in life, but it so happens
that we are not always able to realize them
in Just the way we desire. We fall below
our standards and then sometimes We begin
to lose faith in their efficacy and even GEN.
sure the ideals that gave them birth. We
forget, however, that our ideals are not at
fault but rather the way in which we acted
under their inspiration. We did not work
as we might have done, perhaps, so we did
not take them seriously enough, or we
wasted time and energy waiting for bet
ter opportunity. Whatever the cause we
did not pay enough attention to the advan-
tages offered and in this We overlooked the
good influence of our best ideals.
The loss OF an ideal means the loss of
faith in human nature and even in the wis
dom OF Gods DEGREES. Because things do
not always happen in just the way we want
is no reason why we should act as spoiled
=
til we lose our hold upon ourselves and begin
to see wrong and unhappiness in every
thing. The life that is empty and vain and
sour means misery for all those who
cross its path, and it is hard to realize how
any one can choose to live in such condi-
tons 1t does not seem possible for per-
son who has once been influenced by lofty
ideals to renounce them and take comfort
f,> e., = g, r. h;~h
and courageous effort. Yet the fact that
healthy interest in life would seem to prove
that this is so. 1t may be, of course, that
such persons may never have really been
controlled in any way whatever by high
ideals because they never had the happi-
ness of possessing them but, as rule, it is
the exception for anyone not to have ex-
never known such an influence its lack
means little or nothing, but to one who
having once lived and worked under the
gentle sway of noble ideal its loss means
the difference between day and night. The
splendor of high purpose is thereby turned
into the despair of hopelessness because
there is nothing to work for, nothing to live
for, nothing to accomplish and We simply
exist because we cannot help ourselves
There is no need, of course, for such ar
existence because life is too full ever to bt
empty for anyone no matter in what con
dtions he may find himself. There is to-
much necessary work to be done for any
one to surrender absolutely to the loss o
an ideal and too much room in this worlt
for anyone to lose himself in the darkness
OF selfish despair. We speak of life being
empty but that is only because our heart
are empty for the time being, and becaus
some personal loss makes our vision fault,
and the ideals which once meant so mucl
to US are lost sight of for awhile. Sucl
conditions, however, do not last foreve
and with the reawakening of our. bette
selves comes a renewed consciousness Q
our duty and life begins to assume one
again its normal course. The ideal tina
we thought lost comes back into its plac
and while its influence for a time perhap
may not be as keen and helpful as of oil
still we are able to derive some measure c
comfort from its presence and from tn
knowledge that after all life is filling u
for us again. Whether we lose an idea
forever depends in large measure upo
our own actions, and more than anythin
upon our powers of endurance.
TURNED DOWN.