Evening star., 1927-10-30

and the demand for a full 100 per
cent contact with and absorption in
reality are obstacles which the day
dreamer seldom can surmount.
But in minor positions the day.
dreamer is familiar sight. His chief
habit is the substitution of wishing
for doing. He dawdles, he postpones,
he temporizes, and seldom can he be
depended on to come up to the
scratch, so to speak, when a crisis
arises demanding decisive action. He
lives largely in the future. He is
always going to do something really
splendid, but somehow he never does
He plans vast projects, he visualizes
himself as the directing head Of giant
corporations: he hopes to conquer the
enemies of waste. inefficiency and lost
motion ironically enough, fhis last
seems to be a special favOrite among
daydreamers). but always he uses
the future tense. Sometimes he has
real ability. but often this is self
delusion. Usually his dreams are
futile, impractical and beyond his or
any one elses capacity TO accomplish.
RIGHT here fairness demands that
~ some exceptions be drawn. There
are daydreamers who succeed; who
dream not only big dreams (wili
dreams. most of the rest Of us call
them) but who translate them into
actual and constructive projects.
The Panama Canal, for example,
was made possible by one mans day
dreams. Had 1t not been for the rev.
cries Of Gen. (Dr) Gorgas, VINO
dreamed Of methods to conquer the
miasmatic sanitary conditions-the
I a u
other tropical plaques that previously
had made the Canal Zone n reeking
swamp of death-that vast engineer
ing triumph never could have been
born.
Likewise, it was out Of the day
dreams Of the late Ebert Gary that
| the gargantuan United States Steel
| Corporation was made possible. And.
t again. thousands of men and women
living today owe their lives and their
restored health to the fused Day
dreams of the Canadian physicians,
Banting and Best, who in dreaming OF
msulin scotched, in diabetes, one OIL
mankinds crueleSt enemies.
+ This difference i'm the kind Of day
| dreams is all-impOrtant. 1t spells
the difference usually between success
| and failure Most dreams are vague
and rambling. But the kind just men,
| toned are really forward looking
thoughts-logical, clear cut and based
on real ability as well as on fnsplra-
| ton They are not permitted to ram
| BILE aimlessly about in the dreamer
mind, but. instead, are dragged out
into the sharp white light of reality.
where they are subjected to scrutiny
and the acid tests of practicability.
Then. if found feasible, they are har-
messed up to useful-and practical
projects.
The reasons why some people day
dream futilely and to excess are in
| teresting. Contrary to widespread
opinion, daydreaming is not caused
/ by 'laziness," nor is it due. as some
irritated observers would have us be-
| lieve to sheer cussedness." Instead,
oXcessive daydreaming of the tyne
that eventually causes failure is al
most invariably associated with a
| feeling OF inferiority twhether JuSti-
| fed by the facts or not and has its
origin in a personality marked by
| oversensitiveness and timidity. Such
| 4 personality shrinks from participat-
ing in the rebuffs and the rivalries
and the give.and-take of the every
day world, and to compensate itself
for the harshness OF the real environ
ment. retreats to the rose -colored
warmth Of an imaginary one.
But while it is simple enough to see