The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-02


club is not movement against the
recognition OF sickness, poverty and sor-
row, but an effort TO induce people 10 !
look or the bright side Of life instead |
Of the dark side.
More power 10 this organization, and /
may its membership include every man.
woman and child, for u there is any |
one single thing that would do more |
than anything else to make lie worm !
living Il would be 10 stop tho ceaSeless
flow Of whnes and complaints and tears
IN which the most Of our acquaintance |
drench us, and which we in turn pass
On, with our own woes superlmposed
on IT, to the next victim.
Did YOU over stop 60 think that most
conversation is nothing but swapping
Of troubles? When you meet your
friends they tell you OF every single, |
solitary thing that has gone amiss with
them, and YOU listen with hated breath,
awaiting for n pause In the talk so you
can break IN with the litany OF your
own woes And when you part you
both 60 your ways feeling that this Is
rotten old world and everything In
II is askew.
Just a Bad Habit.
why do you do lt? why do they
do e? Nobody knows. It's nothing
but bad habit It's morbid custom
that We have fallen into OF shrtektng
aloud our misfortunes through a
lnegaphone while we put the soft pedal
on our blessings.
As a matter Of fact our troubles are
neither half so great as we pretend
they nor are We as much afflicted ny
them as we declare ourselves 10 he
out attitude Of being Jonah Is all q
pose, and We would he angry enough II
ANYBODY really believed that We were
the chronic victims Of III luck.
We simply like 10 talk in m&an.
choly strain, and we do II without re-
aliKing how depressing We are 10 all
% those with whom We come in con-
tact Still less do VIC realize that we
are laying the burden of our own trou-
bles on the shoulders OF other people
who, PERHAPS have already all they can
bear, and that when We add our gloom
TO theirs We may be putting out the
last flicker OF hope in some dark soul,
Yet We all know from experience how
true this Is All OF us have acquatnt-
ances whose visits we dread rs we do
Il scourgc. because we know that every
minute they are With us we Will have
10 listen % their lamentations, and that
they win weep on cur breasts until we
ARE as limp as wet dishrag with tears.
Likewise we all have correspondents
whose letters we dread to open because
we know before hand that they viii he
nothing but a record Of one trtbulation
after another,
These disscminators of gloom paralyEe
every energy and slay all courage and
initiative because they make US feel
that the whole world Is going to. the
buw-wcws and everything is fore
doomed 70 failure, and there Is no use
a M making an effort,
Their opposites.
on thn other haud tho cheerful and
optimistic people arc missionaries OF
light and hone, They are like clean
wind that sweeps tho miasms from our
gouls. They are Ike n sunshiny day
that floods the earth with Eiadness
They are the Incarnation Of courage
and hope and the thing within us that
makes us dare and do,
IL we knew that we had a deadly dis
case such as smallpox or ieprosy, COM
mon humanity would make us isolate
ourselves so that we would not com
munlcate II to our fellow creatures.
The germ Of pesslmism ts just as catch
ing and just as fatal as any other
microbe, and we should be Just AS care
full not To innoculate others with 1t.
For this reason va should keep our
troubles to ourselves, We should re-
count to others only the pleasant and
agreeable things that have happened
10 US We should feel ii on our con
sciences to send everybody with whom
we Gene IN contact away from us
Cheered up instead of cast down.
AS for talking health instead Of sick
ness. It Is psychological fact that to
p large extent We can make ourselves
sick or weu hv the way we think and
talk. BY dwelling upon 1t you can de-
Nelop a slight pain Into a raging agony
or you can cure Il by forgetting II, as
we have all proven times out OF num-
her by arising from sick bed 20 go
on froilC when somebody came along
and sugEeste something cnticing 10 do
Therefore there Is no doubt that a
great hyEicniC movement can be start.