Evening star., 1932-04-07

Surely one OF the most disagreeablt
men al habits Of humanity is the t@nd-
ency displayed b. so many to TAX;
personal issl,c with others over fact
acconrik;led.
AS loKg as a thing has not beer
settled, there may be some good ir
asking another, why didn't you dc
so-end--o?" But when something i
dcne, and usually with the irrevcca,
biity Of mot deeds accomplished
there is very little if any good in ask
ing the same fool question.
Yet large numocr of people, both
men and women, delight in nothing
more than In arguing about facts and
deeds, things done, purchases made
decisions settled.
Offhand. the observer of humanity
might think that in such cases the
tendency would be entirely the other
way that no one would want to run
the risk of making Gnother dissatisfied
Actually it would seem as if that
aepe-t of the matter seldom enters intc
the intellectual processes of the per.
con who Is forever and unweariedlJ
raady to ask another human being
why did you do that, why didn't you
do so and SOP"
The truth proba bly, is that the bulE
of such persons are thoughtless, rather
than malicious.
They have their own ideas of what
they would do and would not do, and
are mentally incapab'e of putting
themselves into the shoes of another
Two parts of ego. one of envy. and
one Of inability-theSe constitute the
four sides OF this curious square oi
human conduct.
Nature has sesn to it that most OF
US are incurably conceited. This is
strictly provision tor cur own pres
ervetion. Conceit. or what we term
conceit, makes for s7lf-preservation
Only In an occasional character is this
carried to the extreme of abSurdity.
Most men (and a few women) are
egotistical in the very nature Of things
The very facts of growth strike them
as peculiarly personal achievements. l.
it any wonder, then. when they
enter the business world. and succeed
with quite an ordinary degree of sue
cess. that they tend to look upon them
selves as really wonderful?
Quite often smart young lads in high
school spend hours eyeing themselves
in mirrors, quite well pleased at the
vision of Nature in full course which
they see there. AS preposterous as il
may seem. some of them will get the
quite unconscious idea that the result
they see there is entirely their own
work.
Now this is a beneficent provision OF
Nature, wise old mother who is will
ing to let her children take unto them
selves all credit, just so long as they
will carry out her mysterious wishes
Il will put these roses into your cheeks
my fine young fellow" she says, "and
you may regard them as the sole re-
suit of your ability to run a 100-yard
dash. If you want to. That is your
business. And-ahem-mine."
After q few years in the really seri-
Gus business of earning a living. a
young man tends to calm down a bit,
and learn better how to lessen the
appearances OF conceit.
Only now and then does one see a
mature specimen of homo sapiens who
has failed to submerge to some extent
the native signs of Grass conceit.
Such fellow is hopelessly conceited.
SO much so that most people learn to
discount what he says If he asks.
Why did you buy so-and-so, why did
you not buy thus-and-thus?" one is not
inclined, even IL sensitive to such
things, to take offense at 1t, or to feel
perturbed in any unusual degree.
1t is the man who has managed to
hide the earmarks of his native con-
ceit, his ego, and something of the
streak of envy in every human being,
who riies one distinctly by putting up
the universal wall, "Oh, why did you
do that? Why didn't you do this
other?"
He rubS one the wrong way because