The daily banner., 1917-09-21
EXPERIENCE THE MOST
VALUABLE METHOD OF
LEARNING FOR FUTURE
Acting on Impulse Rather Than Rea-
son The Most Universal Failing.

"Middiemarch, | think, she refers
to the strands OF experience lying
side by side in our lives and never
compared, thought that is we'll
worth considering Il bit, for it eN-
plains, to Il certain extent, our ability
to pass through one experience after
another without apparent gain.
There is an Old saying, Expert
ence teaches every one except the
fool Yet We, who probably pride
ourselves on our good sense, go on
doing the same silly things, making
the same mistakes. bearing the same
resulting pain. simply because We do
not compare the strands of expert
ence which lie side by side in cur
lives.
Naturally no incident occurs twice
in exactly the same Way-thdt IS why
We fail TO realize the SimilaritY-but
Fundamentally there are few Vari-
ants. They say there are only ten or
twelve possible story plots; even few
er original jokes; yet the ingenuity
CT the author so disguises the paucity
of material that we never recognize
the Old acquaintance in its new dress.
That is the way i'll which life takes
our few old experiences, turns them
at new angle. throws another col
ored light on them, twists the strand
into d fresh knot and we stop aghast
at their Strangeness instead of stand
ing still for quiet study, which
would enable us to compare and con-
trast and recognize.
Do you remember the pain you
suffered through your estrangement
from that old school friend brought
about through the bitter letter writ
ten liz the heat of momentary an
ger. She had written 10 you i'll hall
joke. poking fun at some fOolishneSS
oi v hich you had made her the con-
tidant. Had she been present the
smile. the laughing tCne OF voice
wouiG have prevented any bitterness
OF feeling. but the written word had
hurt You beyond endurance and With
out Stopping TO think you had an
swered reproaching her for lack OF
SyntEa, by and understanding and
your letter was really angry and bit
ter->o much so that ii caused an ir-
repara bic breach.
That time you resolved never to
write hastily again: never to answer
while III anger; never to send a letter
of Importance until it had been read
and rc-read in cold blood; but how
often have YOU done the selfSame
hing under slightly different circum-
stances just because the strands OF
experience lay side by side and ap
parently did not touch. Sometimes
the foolish letter was too contiden-
tial. sometimes too affectionate, some
times it told piece of brandnew eX-
perience, impressing an altogether
new lesson. and so we really learned
nothing.
We forgot that things never hap
pen the same way twice, so, unwilling
to analyze our experience, we go thru
life like children and make the
same mistake over and over again.
Take the case of the letter, for
that is a very common instance of our
foolishnesS; if the very first time We
had made the mistake we had look
ed at it squarely and taken it, as it
were, to pieces, we would have seen
that the fundamental error was in
not remembering the difference be-
tween the written and the spoken
word
When We speak the tone of voice
SoftenS some points, accentuateS 9TH
ers, makes the meaning clear; we
get an immediate response and so we
can correct possible misunderstand-
ing or if We see we have given pain
can make quick amends. But a let
ter comes, the ink and paper have no
intonation to suggest the mood in
which the words were written; the
recipient is far away from the per-
Sonal touch; the words can be read
and re-read, brooded over, recon-
structed with thousand possible
meanings and very probably an in
tention of which We never dreamed
read into really innocent words.
Ii we bore this in mind We would
reserve the dubious sentence until
we met and make our letters so un-
affectionate, CHEEKY, friend
ly and kindly that they could never
under any circumstances give unfore-
seen pain: or should it be business
note. We would read it over carefully,
so as to obviate any possibility of
mistake.
However, the great lesson to which
we are generally blind is the folly oil
following impulse rather than rea-
son, in word or act. No experience
seems great enough to impress it eff
fectually on our minds; we suffer,we
realize our mistake, We make resolu-
tions, but the next experience finds
us as foolish and as unprepared. We
take each incident alone, as though
it was solitary episode in no way
related to the past or the future; we
Z I,,l- hot IN,
nected spots, though in reality life is
a chain of interlaced links, each act
bearing its consequences.
Do what we will, We cannot slough
our past as a snake its skin: whether
we learn from them or not. our eX-
perienceS must affect our characters
and our lives, so is it not the height
of folly not to take up those parallel
and look at them With the
critical eyes required for genuine
cOmparlSOD as TO extract from