Evening star., 1950-03-26
BIokesIee, 20, Credits Science
For Life Free of Worries
Writer Who Learned
By Trial Still Finds
World Wonderful
By Howard w. BIokesIee
Associated Press Science Editor

oCCduSS VI SClcIlCe, ABOUT WHICH
I have been writing for 81 years,
I now have nothing to worry
about.
I don't have to worry about
what climate to choose for re-
tirement to preserve my declining
years. Nor what to eat or drink.
Nor when to get up in the morn
ing.
For science, and some good
luck, have given me a new wife
and three small children. Because
of the children, I know exactly
what I am going to do-keep on
working.
1t makes no difference if 7 get
fired from my job. I still must
work. and that simplifies every
thing.
This retirement is a queer
thing. I believe in it. I believe
there have been men who wanted
to retire. But I never have met
one-not one-elderly man, at
retirement age, who wanted to re-
tire.
Maybe you have heard it is un-
usual for men of 10 to continue
working. Don't believe it. Thanks
again to science. there are now
II million people in the United
States over IS. More than you
think are doing some kind of
work.
The largest sector OF science
news is about medicine. There's
SO much it makes your head swim.
To profit, you have to get a lit
tie scientific yourself.
Learned by Trial.
have learned by trial. In my
teens, I had a bad heart, but a
wise doctor said-don't worry, and
don't strain.
Later, Keene Fitzpatrick, then
the University of Michigan's IA
nous trainer, stopped me from
running in mile and half-mile
races, because of my heart. So I
took to cross-country running and
was happy.
Still later, in New Orleans, I
used to win the mile and half
mile races on the same day. have
Amateur Athletic Union gold
medals for victories.
In those days life insurance
companies insisted on charging me
extra because of my heart.
Later, in Dallas, one of the
leading doctors warned me never
to hurry after a street car. He
did not also warn me to stop play
ing basketball. I didn't tell him
about that. So continued play
ing.
And I have played tennis, and
hardball, to this day, especially
handball. Don't think always
get licked on a handball court.
You may say I disregarded med
1cal advice. But I didn't. True,
for many years doctors were un-
happy about my handball, but now
they have surrendered and COM
pliment me.
I followed the advice given me
don't strain. Only you can tell
when you are straining your
heart. In my case I built up
strength and endurance slowly,
over months and years, without
ever working hard at any moment.
When I was winning two races
the same day, I never worked
hard. The boys who lost those
races gave their all, and came to
the finish staggering.
I have always believed that the
greatest athletes had an extra
margin and became champions on
that margin. I think this applies
to all things in life. When we go
all out on any job, and continue
to exhaustion, we lose more than
we gain. It's a fact that in my
life when I worked hardest I made
the least progress. I have seen
this happen to others.
Science can prove this. But
science cannot teach you how. You
have to learn by yourself. Take
relaxing. In my forties I decided
to practice working relaxed.
Learning how took me 10 years.
Even now, 80 years afterward,
, still have to beware to keep from
getting tense when tenseness is
wasteful.
Not Worried by TelevisiOn.
Millions of parents are worry
Ing about the effects of television
on their children. Fewer books
are read. Scholastic standings are
dropping.
I don't worry, for I have seen
the same thing before. My first
family, four children, was small
when the movies came in. Parents
worried then about the effect on
their children. The talk was
hCd4ly dl1 III 4dNO1 VI 1Oi DIudlllS
movie attendance. or for choosing
only carefully selected pictures.
In our house we did in differ
entity. We made a rule that the
children could see anything they
wanted, and that dad and MON
could go with them. Within a
year these children had sampled
about everything. And they had
become choosy. They liked only
certain selected pictures, their
own choices. When I wanted to
know good movie, I asked the
children, and they seldom were
wrong.
I think television will 60 the
same way. Television is a new
aspect of the world. 1t is some
thing for children to learn. II