The Washington herald., 1916-02-26
Beginning the Day.

/
by JOHN ID. BARRY.
There is much-quoted passage from Marcus
Aurelius that says: Begin the morning by say
! ing to myself: I shall meet with the busy-body,
the ungrateful, the arrogant, the deceitfu the
envious, the unsocial All those qualities operate
by reason of their ignorance of what is good and
evil But l, who have seen the nature of good that
it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly. and
the nature of him who does wrong that it is akin
to me, can never be injured by any Of them"
| This passage has undoubtedly helped many
people, by making them more tolerant, more
patient with the faults of others and I'M
personal toward the injuries which they feel have
been done to them. But it seems to me that, fine
as is, it is not perfect In the first place. it in
vites to begin the day by taking what virtually
amounts to a suspicious attitude. 1t tells us to
expect to find certain faults in our fellow-bcings
and to resist their influence, instead Of emphasiz-
ing what is good in fellow-beings and what, in
tspite OF transient appearances, is predominant and
urging upon the Importance of keeping the
good alive in our consciousness.
| When we look for evil, exactly as when we
we call noble lives are likely to be least aware of
what is ignoble in the world Their faith in the
good that lies all about them tends to make those
they meet bring out their best The stern I'M
friendly teachers, eternally warning on sin, may
drive sin to cover but they cannot drive out Of
existence. Often, indeed, their influence tends to
make it thrive Who, with love in his heart, would
wish to be like them, angry, censorious, denunci-
atoIy making what is beautiful ugly?
Suppose one does meet the busy-body in the
course of the day. He is only one among many
who are not busy-bodies. 1t is well for us now
and then to reflect the large number of people
who, pretty consistently, mind their own business
and take good-humored attitude, toward the rest
| OF the world. Conspicuous the busy-body is,
he is, after all, exception. Besides, there is
much good in him. His very weakness has in it
the social quality that binds us into human or
ganization. The trouble with him usually is that
he is too interested in his fellow-beings Often
there is something humorous about him or about
her-the busy body being sometimes feminine.
AS matter of fact without the cooperation
of others, perhaps of ourselves, who are not OF
course, ever busy-bodcs, the busy bodies can do
very little mischief or none at all. Suppose we
/ were to ignore what the busy-body tried to do
their power to do harm would instantly vanish
AS for ungrateful people, they are entitled, not
to resentment, but to pity. They miss of the
course, like many expressions of weakness re-
suits from absorption in oneself from the paradox
that is the foundation Of living giving least to
giving most to those who exact least. The ex-
pressions of ngratitude can be so hideous as to
| be distressing even to see or to hear expressed
| But they far more distressing to those who
feel them: On the other hand gratitude is quail
ity that flowers out from very fine soil. 1t inn
plies the existence of other qualities or less
uncommon 10 expect people to be grateful is to
expect the INTO be exceptional The grateful ones
OF the earth are those who possess one of the
secrets of right living Suppose we help those who
great need of help. Are we so foolish as to lei
ourselves be disturbed by what is their loss? The
plain answer is that most of are. And the
reason is that, in this matter, have not de-
veloped common sense. Often we do kindnesses
for the sake of receiving gratitude that is for the
sake OF being more firmly entrenched in our own
getting just what we deserve. There few ways
OF making ourselves more wretched than by look
| ing for gratitude The more we look for it the
less we shall find. And the less think of it,
more we are likely to Ieceive. There is no con-
tradiction and no subtlety here 1t is simply tina,
cause and re- effect are at work resulting from our
attitude The expectation of gratitude can turn
a good deed into a bad deed and it can bring out
the qualities that make ingratitude.
The deceitful are pretty closely related to all
| of us. When resent them we resent quality
that lies imbedded deeply in our own natures. To
be strictly persistently and spontaneously truthful
how hard it is! Do you know any one that &C,
complishes the feat? Not to make allowances to
others for occasional deviatons from the truth is
to be grossly self-indugent and self-deceiving
Those people who talk about their truth and
who stern with the weakness of lying are in
a tcklish position. Their very love Of truth may
be related to qualities not wholly loveabe. The
deepest lovers of truth approach the subject with
grave concern. They know how rare absolute
truth is, how difficult. how close to the top of the
mountain few travellers succeed in scaling And
they know that even those the top can take
sudden falls into the abyss Once down there
those travellers find themselves in the company OF
tine deceiyers, at best a sorry lot. Is there any
creature more AFFECT more appealing to pity. than
those who have abandoned themselves to deceit
that they to have lost all relation to truth
But the seeming is only transient. Through them
the truth has way of shining. The more they lie
the more they tell the truth about themselves
Unexpectedly, amazingly, the truth has way OF