Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

/ And these are large prices to pay
| for words.
The depths of misunderstanding are
as much deeper than the sea than the
human mind is higher than the noun
| tains Of Asia. All the old suspicious
of the race live in each one of us, al
though We may possess the finest pos
| sible veneer and utterly refuse to rec
ognize them.
What" we say, with hauteur eve
will admit some relationship with the
animals, but there is wide, wide gulf,
brother, and we must remind you of it,
in case you dare to forget"
But the very fact that we bristle at
the very thought of ancient kinship
shows the honest mind that we know
very well what is behind these sudden
wellings Of anger, these Grass enthu-
Siasms when mixed with the crowd,
these petty suspicious which overtake us
even when some one is trying his best,
even if it is a poor best, to help us.
X x x x
Advice is seldom asked except when
the asker is in a quandary, and doubt
proclaims a conflict of interests, lack
Of surety in what one has done, or
thinks, or knows.
Often enough good advice must plain
ly show up some lack, some wrong line
of conduct judged from the best
and most honeSt--StandpointS
Young people instinctively dislike the
advice of their parents and other elders
because they realize, even if they will
not admit it, that the chances are
that it is correct, and, being right, in
stantly rebuffs their wrong, their in
experience, their ignorance.
Good advice, the better the more
surely, ruthlessly uncovers old sores,
and shows to the waiting mind the
scars of past mistakes.
And what human being, we ask, cares
for such revealing?
Our pride is hurt, our precious pride
in the mythical man we have built up
out of hopes and aspirations. Him, we
fondly tell ourself, few know and fewer
appreciate. Only We, in the depth of
our own secret heart and mind, know
him as he likes to think of himself,
and understand what wonderful fell
low he is, after all.
Good advice, so called, has a nasty
habit of stripping him bare and show
ing him for his true self, a bow-legged
underling forever complaining about
fate and his stars, and vastly unwilling
to listen to the good advice given Bru-
tus
d. II Olle IluSG give ADVICE, leu IL De
bad advice, the worse the better, be-
cause it will be understood at once to be
very poor indeed, and the other will
not even consider taking it, as we say
Good advice is often too bitter medi-
cine for us to take. But bad advice we
spit out at once, without making any
pretense of swallowing it.
The good adviser, therefore, is he who
is wise enough to give bad advice, or
rather, shall we say clumsy advice, COM
posed of words which will show the
other that we do not understand his
case and therefore are unable to help
him, at all.
Then he will grolk down into his own
heart and soul ana do the best for him
self that he can which, after all, no
matter what we pretend to believe is all
any human being can do
We realize that much can be said on
the other side of this our thesis, but we
are stubborn enough to believe that we
are right in ending as we began.
Never give good advice.
The better it is the more certain it
is to be resented.