Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11

our beliefs, ideals and habits of
thought and action, and failure comes
only too often as the result of being
saddled with dead past.
A boy was taught by his mother
never to leave a task uncompleted and
especially always to finish book once
started. For years after he reached
adulthood he dreaded to start a book,
especially a long one, for fear it might
not be interesting or useful but would
have to be finished whether or no. and
ii took many years to re-evaluate this
perfectly good teaching so that he
could keep what was good and dis.
card what was useless, so he could
start a book and lay it aside if it did
not prove worth while.
During all this time he never really
understood why he had to act as ne
did, and it was only when the true
motive for his conduct, the desire to
do as his mother wished, came to clear
consciousness that he was able TO
evaluate it properly and rearrange his
conduct accordingly.
Such are the hidden. the uncon-
scious motives that drive us to action
often to our detriment. They some
times are so strong and persistent that
everything the person undertakes
comes to naught until perchanCe they
may make of necessity a virtue and
come to be proud of their failures,
thus getting the only satisfaction from
a life of blasted hopes.
An Austrian physician tells of him
self that when he was boy there was
in the house d drawer in which We're
kept the knives and forks. When he
was told to get knife he reached
in and it seemed invariably he brought
out a fork and when he was told to
fetch fork, he seemed as invariably
to get hold of a knife. What seemed
to him. at the time, to be the spiteful-
ness of these objects caused him to
make a record of his failures and sue
cesses and much to his surprise he
found they balanced. 1t was only the
failures that had impressed them
selves upon his mind, the successes
were forgotten. Things are never as
bad as they seem. and we have all
manner of successes that we take no
note Of, either because they relate to
unimportant matters or are not asso-
Ciated with any experiences that en-
phasiZe them in our thoughts. TAX
ing pride in misfortune is dangerous
attitude of mind, and as in this case,
often as little unwarranted.
X 4 X
4 ND so the story goes. These hid
den motives, these sidetrackings
of our energies up blind alleys are al
most as numerous as the individuals
who have them, and that means all of
us. Success and failure are but mat
ters of degree, after ALL They run the
gamut of human experience, from the
child of wealth and indulgent parents
who has had everything the world af-
fords until there is nothing left to
strive for, to the poor, sickly boy who
has been beaten so often that he no
longer has the heart to strive; from
the child that has been loved so much
that he has never been allowed to
have any difficulties and who fails at
the first real problem when no one is
around to solve it for him, to the child
who has been brought up In hate
and rebellion and attacks the estab-
lished order Of things from the first;
from the superidealist who has never
really contacted with reality at all and
does not know what to do about it
when it comes his way. to the super
realist whose experiences have been
all so discouraging and disillusioning
that he has become cynical and pes
simistic.
These are bat a few examples, to
which should be added failures due to
timidity, to fears, to all sorts of wrong
thinking, failures in the family of
husbands and wives to make adequate
adjustments. failures in bringing up
children, and the failures of the child
in school and out, failures in business
life, whether as a result Of wrong vo-
cational choice or for other causes.
such as inability to submit to the
needed discipline or routine. lack of
continuity, or bad habits.
The list is endless. but back of them
all lies causes that are discoverable
and that fall again and again into the
same general patterns. though with
infinite variations as to detail. 1t Is
hoped that through a discussion of
some of these problems the reader
may gain some insight into the way
failure comes about and will not be