Evening star., 1928-05-15
Tragedy of False Accusation.

! am much interested In this column and
apondents ao son8 Certain inas are symps
thetacally and Intelligently answered. was
especially int6rested some time ago IN the
doctors treatment of the question OF the
punishment of the mentally unfit. There
is an old adage that sticks and stones viii
hurt you" but. like many other old saws ="
this has gone into the discard In the light
Of modern psychology. The fact is that
the higher the blood Jewell e. the inherent
rehnement-the greater the devastation
worked.
= There was man Of the highest ideals
IN thought and life. one who would s'orn
touched dishonest dollar. yet lie was called
upon to make restitution of many thOu-
sands OF dollars which he never took or
knew anything about: WAS called by
innnendo. thief. with the implied threat
ct imprisonment: WAS the victim Of a re.
absolutely innocent OF any wrongdoing
Whatsoever. Thereafter. this apparently
physical heaith-lost much weight. berame
morose and melancholy. becoming inefficient
DISCHARGE and refused a raise in salary that
nad 5een promised him, and became thus
Rsd been afny m Ihs EYES dt Of his rmpoyer he
up to the time Of the false accusation hut
thereafter failed to apply himself in study
aud work. Incoming slack. careless and filled
with fear. which dominated his life instead
OF courage. Somewhat improved in health.
q few years passing. he opened his own
again into his former apathetic state and
sn9wed s,s,W marked SYMPTOMS OF fear and
hitherto high, standard of ideals
s;nihseGuentiy t,,I he developed serious anti
Social Qualities and finally became a recluse
avoiding people and living quite within him.
sell How do you account for his REACTION
which | have endeayored to state: OF
course. ms trouble had its inception in tine
originsi mental shock. Had he been left
strictly alone. he would. no doubt have
maintained q straight path to his goal. and
OF course. he is now suffering from what
should never have come into his life /
have read that the past ~ ever going before
us and influences the present and the future
and it seems that We cannot get away from
IT, especially the iniustices which so pro-
HOPEFUL INQUIRER.
This is typical tragedy Of the mind.
1t sets one to thinking how mucn Of
1t Is due to fate, how much to original
disposition. SenSitiveneSs to emotional
upset goes back to something in origi-
nal nature. We can't say what it is,
but 1t varies from man to man; makes
one type go through life hard as nails,
indifferent to the finer emotions. in
sensitive to the worlds opinion: makes
another quiver and shrink to every
shame, every unkind word, every unjust
reproach. What this fineneSS or coarse
ness OF texture of our emotional life
may depend upon cannot be deter
mined. But. account as we may for
its presence. we know that it is subject
to cultivation. There is something in
our makeup that renders us sensitive
to pride and shame. But what we
take pride in and what We are ashamed
OF is the result Of our upbringing
You and / are both ashamed of being
thought or called a thief. But the de-
gree Of humiliation. the measure of
upset which results from a serious loss
OF esteem, may be very different for
you and for me. II do not really care
much what people think Of me and you
do; II wouldn't mind very much being
thief in fact, and to you 1t would be
terrible degradation. the resulting
shock of false accusation would be
vastly different.
But there Is a further factor, also
imbedded deep in original nature, that
determines how you and would react:
how this sense of shame viii show itself
and what resources We have to over
come and come back. One OF the
greatest tragedies of false accusation
OF recent days Is that OF Capt Dreyfus.
Stripped of all his military rank, de-
graded In the eyes of the world, sent to
lonely island in sort Of living death.