The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-01-22

In any depressing situation look
for the possibilities. Dependency IS
chronically associated with mega
tive thinking. No discouraging sit
uation into which we commonly fall
Is pure disaster with nothing to be
done about 1t except succumb. We
ourselves make our situations seem
like that by our absorbed concern
with their depressing elements.
The first technique by which
many naturally try to win satisfac-
ton from untoward situations, Is
will power. Facing depressing cir
cumstance, they call upon them
selves to play the man; but the
emotional conquest Of depression Is
no simple matter Of direct volition.
To be sure, In some crises OF dis
heartenment respondent man may
with good effect be told to snap
out of It," George Bernard Shaw
makes one of his characters say to
a self-pitying woman: your native
language Is the language of Shakes
peare and Milton and the Bible; and
don't sit there grooming like bilious
pigeon"
When, however, such reliance
on strength of will is the persons
soul resources in dealing with some
long -drawn-ou chronic tragedy
Of illness, handicap, or bereave-
ment, its results can be deplorable.
Such a person may refuse to crack
UP, but only at the cost Of hard
stoicism. He may be strong, but only
by becoming flint-like and obdurate,
defying life and in the end growing
scornful of 1t. So a strong-willed
woman said to the minister after
the funeral of her son: Thanks
for the service! It was kind Of you.
But for myself I have no faith in
life left. My son Is well out Of this
damned world" Far from being
weak, her will was inflexible. but
reliance on 1t as a sole resource
In deep trouble carried her straight
into hard imperturbability.
When circumstances are dis.
piriting we need not only will
power but insight-the capacity
positively to see the possibilities
for good still resident in the situa-
ton. Booker T. Washington even
used the phrase, 1.-THE advantage Of
disadvantages. He ought to know.
Born a Negro slave, allowed to carry
the books Of his white masters chill
dren to the schoolhouse door but
never to enter, shut out from the
areas Of privilege he craved most,
the advantage Of his disadvantages
was far from obvious. Yet he won
an appreciation of education, de-
termination to get 1t for himself at
any cost, sympathy with the chill
dren Of his people who were denied
1t devotion to the cause Of open
doors for Negro youth, that never
could have been his with such depth
and poignancy had he not been
spurred by his own privation.
Booker T. Washington was what he
was not despite his early handicaps
but in large measure because OF
them.
This insight into the "advan-
tage Of disadvantages" carrying
one from q negative to O positive
attitude toward disheartening sit
uations, Is Of far-reaching thera-
peutic value in ordinary life. To-
ward minor irritations, broken
plans, or unexpected handicaps,
some people instinctively make q
negative response. They have never
acquired the habit Of gathring up
the broken threads Of their cher
ished plans and weaving something
else out Of them.
RoSsini once had TO write an
opera for company whose con-
tralto had only one good note In
her voice-niddle B nat He might
have taken . negative attitude but