Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

ity, the same shrinking, which the OBJ
jects of their contempt display. It is
one OF the major tricks Of the sly AMI
NAL in man, to foist of onto others the
very traits IL fears in itself
Never. therefore-and this is simply
practical advice--permit others to
make you feel as II you, alone, were
the sad posSessor of lamentable traits,
and that most other men are properly
otherwise. The easily observable truth.
to be discovered almost anywhere, in
any organization whatsoever, in any
city or town, and perhaps even on the
farm, Is that almost every one OF us
might do better than we do If it were
not for the JniaSma of fear which
creeps out at US day and night from
the minds and hearts Of all those with
whom we have to deal.
4
How few men, indeed, one meets who
are at all impressive or who make one
feel that they had mastered life and
its conditions!
Even great names do not insure It..
nor much money. There are famous
gentlemen who seem veritable shrimps,
and large. senatorial-looking persons
who are perfect lightweights
In between come thousands upon
thousands of what are called plain
human beings, who are neither great
nor rich, famous or celebrated.
One comes at last to have q sad
feeling that greatness. in essence Is
not so great at hand as at q distance.
that II one wants to keep ones ideal
conception OF great novelist. for in
| stance. one had better not attend his
| lecture.
1t is wholesome then to feel. in all
honesty
less. in truth, than somehow they ought
to be, or might be. 1t is, perhaps, no
wonder that the remainder of man.
kind Is not high on the road to world
wide notoriety which tends to take the
place of what the unsophisticated peo-
pie Of past generations called celebrity
-
Once a man has come to this COM
/ forting feeling, or belief. he will find
himself more tolerant Of himself as
well as OF others.
Are you intolerant Of yourself?
There has been. a great talk. about II
and about. OF intolerance. mainly aimed
at intolerance in regard to religious
matters.
Men are at all points intolerant. how
ever. and perhaps the greatest intol-
! erance Is from a man to his own self
| Fogs OF fear and doubt. impinging
upon his consciousness from others, en-
veloping him like the invisible cloak of
the fairy tales, tends TO make him self
/ cenSoriouS.
! Even the rousing chorus OF Billiard S
grand Stein Song" assuring him that
| God is not too critical, fails to remove
! the handicap.
! Man is intolerant OF his own tendency
/ to failure, helped on as il is by the
same decrepitude in others. The better
/ attitude would be, il one could manage
/ 1t. to regard life as a strange interlude.
/ which O'Neill assures us it is. in which
everv phase is OF vast and tranScenden-
tai interest, since we shall not travel
this way again"
/ 1t Is childish or subiuvenile. even. TO
/ indulge in unmiXed self-criticism. when
all the time We are all in the same boat.
steadily going somewhere We do not
know exactly where. but. like Columbus
in his caravel. hoping for the best.
/ Let us Law these burdens down. not
| only OF other people. as far as we NAV
! help them BY refraining from pressing
our timidities upon them, but also by
refusing. as far as We are able. to per
NIT their fears to communicate them
/ selves to us.
! No doubt We shall fail in this. as We
have in the past but II We recognize the
danger, the let and the hindrance. that
Is something. at least an antiseptic
| thought for a Summers day. to keep
| one from getting hot under the collar
sometime.