Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-10
DOROTHY DIX
DISCUSSES
LIFE
BY DOROTHY DIX


gle to get over the snubbing
1 received as a child" said a
prominent man the other day.
- ~ parents were the good, old
/ fashioned sort who believed that
their first duty was to instiH d
sense of humility into their chill
dren, so our every fault and defect
was kept continually before us, and
our every good quality minimized
and we were generally n ade to feel
that we we worms of the dust
that had no right to even try to
lift our heads, much less to get up
on our hind legs and walk.
whenever We expressed an
opinion on any subject we were
promptly squelched and given to
understand that our views were so
silly that we would do we'll to keep
silent. Whenever we tried to do
anything out of the ordinary all Of
Sour pep was taken out of us by
=. being told that we never could sue
I coed. Others might, but not us.
Whenever we voiced an ambition it
was laughed at. The idea of poor,
ordinary. commonplace dubs lie us,
thinking that, we could accomplish
anything great!
'~~s "Of course our parents idea was
merely to keep US from becoming
+ self-conceited, but the result was to
Kill all of our confidence in our.
selves to imp. in us, what
the psychologists call, an inferiority
compIt-- mat has been a great han.
dicap to us all of our lives.
One of my sisters. for instance
1s an unusually pretty woman, and
all that she has ever lacked Of be.
ing a great beauty is that insolent
swagger of beuaty that makes a
woman carry herself so per cent
above her looks instead of 80
per-, cent under them. You know
what I nean-that air that a pretty
woman has that cries aloud to all
who see her to come and admire
!, her, and that sort of press agents
I her charm.
MY poor sister has none Of this
aura of beauty. She hasn't even
any style, because she had it so
firmly impressed on her youthful
mind thata people We're only flatter-
ing her when they told her what
wonderful eyes, and beautiful hair,
and lovely complexion she had.
and that good looks didn't amount
to anything, anyway, that she &C
quired a deprecating air that has
made her stink through the world
as unobtrusively as possible, IN
stead of queening it, as is a beauty's
rights - - <.7@, .... -
Gas for myself, I have missed
thousand golden opportunities just
through lack of faith in myself. 1t
had been, so bred in my bones that
7 had only the most mediocre ability
that I was afraid to undertakes
things that [ really knew L could
do. afraid to assert myself AFRAID
every to try to clint
''It took years for me to find out
that We really write our own price
tags, and that other people take
us at our own valuation nine times
out of ten. Perhaps the humble
shall be exalted, and those who take
j a back seat be asked to come UP
and sit on the platform in the next
world. but it doesn't happen that
zsAwav in this. There we are SOLD 10
the belief that every man knows
his own number, and where ne De-
LONGS. and we let him stay where
he places himself.
'It took me other years to ma
out that the secret of success is self
confidence. You may not be always
able to do everything that you as
pfre to do, but you certainly can 90
nothing more than you think you
can do. To doubt yourself paralyzes
energy and ambition.
Before you can inspire confidence
in other people you must have falth
in yourself, and you can only have
this if you have a, good amount OF
4 self-esteem, and anybody who robs
L you of this has done you a deadly
wrong.
Nearly all the men in the whole
history of the world who have &C
complished great things have been
great cyclists. No meek, meaching
general could lead an army to vic
tory no matter how brave he was
or how wonderful a tactician.
at takes a man who believes in
himself implicitly to inspire a. sub
1 lime faith in his followers. No dep
recat ting business man could borrow
4 q hundred thousand dollars from
bank. It takes a man who thinks
he is q Napoleon of finance to hyp-
notize others into seeing him as he
sees himself, and give him all the
{ scredit he wants. r. s. J
"I'll admit that selfconceit is the
4 most unattractive quality that any
u one can possess. No one is so tire
kCsome as the egotist who tells you J
what a wonder he is, and boasts of
his own achievements, but, even so,
d he is far more apt to arrive than
n the modest man who does not blow
a his own horn, who does not exploit
n his own talents, but who waits, gen.
orally in vain, for a purblind public
Ito discover and reward his virtues.
For this reason, and, Judging
4 from my own experience, think it
E is a mistake for parents to try to
& teach their children to think poorly
Y of themselves and their abilities.
Y Especially is it a crime to discour-
age a child's ambitions, and it is a
4 double-dyed crime to make a, child
d feel that its possibilities are limited
4 by it's defects. ... ..,-
1.-THE braggadocio of youth may
4 sound ridiculous, but who knows
what are the possibilities of any hui
q man being, or what he may achieve?
The boy who dreams of being presi-
d dent as he walks the furrow of
corn row, may live some day in
4 the White House, but he certainly
won't get out Of his corn row if
you convince him that being a field
laborer is the limit to which he can
aspire.
!. '"To tell a homely girl that she Is
homely makes her homeHer still. To
he forever reminding a dull boy of
his dizziness makes him yet more
stupid. The way to help the young
is not by intensifyng their faults,
but by showing them how to mag
nifv their good Qualities