Evening star., 1928-10-25

It might seem the most REASONABLE
| proposition in the world to do good
but often one finds himself thwarted II
| it at every turn.
He who takes particular pains Il
think of others, who is determined tc
emulate the good motto Of the 30,
Scouts, to do good turn every day
meets obstacles thrown in his way.
| 1t NAV be nothing more than a de-
sire to loan a neighbor a half car
of paint which the said neighbor seems
in need of. Perhaps it is a small Job
such as painting the steps of bacl
porch.
II have just the thing" says h,
who is ambitious of doing good. Here
is half a gallon of perfectly good pain
Of exactly the shade you need, and fol
which I have no further use. Take Il
and welcome
Thu other thanks him. but state:
that he cannot accept such munifi.
cent gift. Urging is al In vain. He
will not. he cannot, he must not take
the paint. He will buy his own paint
thank you
So our good fellow is thwarted al
the outset. His bucket of paint sits ir
the basement until a nice thick coat
covers the top and the constituents be.
come hard and gummy.
Nobody gets the paint, and 1t must
at last be thrown away, which causes
the owner some eXnense. as none of the
duly appointed receivers Of waste prod
ucts from the home will accept a half
bucket of paint.
do one good turn to somebody every
day" All. we'll enough, but in this
machine age how can one do good deeds
to others when they don't want 'em?
One cannot force good deeds down
throats; one should not insist on doing
good deed. whether or no; one does
not find it expedient to offend others
simply to do good
What the world has agreed to in
clude under the word good" is so wide
in scope, and so tied up with every
the determined doer of good, not evil
meets opposition at every turn.
Perhaps this hostile attitude has not
been given the consideration which 1t
Justly deserves. Every one realizes that
most persons resent having evil done
to them, but perhaps few realize that
many resent good being done to them
Social workers. who specialize in
helping the downtrodden in our great
cities, meet exactly this sort of opposi-
ton. They find suspicion. jealousy
envy and all their brood, so that much
preliminary work must be put out
simply to brush away these feelings
before a single benefit may be con-
ferred upon those whom the workers
have come to benefit, under the rules
and regulations covering such activities
While such state of affairs may be
recognized as existing in such work,
probably many persons would refuse to
admit their existence in the ordinary
walks of life.
Yet nothing is more sure than that
certain traits of independence. highly
admirable in themselves when com
bined with the modern attitude toward
others, result in plain refusals to allow
others to do good. Probably this helps
account for the difficulty which is COM
monty met with In this respect, when
some one Stubbornly refuses to accept
simple courtesy extended by another.
y X X
There are, of course, brusuue indi-
vtduals, whose native temperament is
such that they merrily brush aside all
opposition, and go right ahead doing
good turns to the best Of their ability.
Such persons are to be envied by all
those whose dispositions are not so
tempered to the injustice of this world.
Many who otherwise would do good
are what are termed thin skinned
individuals, who are easily offended,
and who are hurt by opposition. The
result OF the lack Of consideration on