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Show IMPORTANCE OF BEING IMPORTANT Matter of Moment, as You Look at It "The Importance of being important impor-tant Is, It seems to me, too disturbingly disturb-ingly impressive to the people who would like to be, or, at any rate, seem to be. Important," said Mr. Cato Ninetails. "If course, there are people who are undoubtedly Important, Im-portant, but It is not so much the result of their special efforts to be important as of a Combination of circumstances and their Individual talents. That Is to say, they are not important merely because they wanf to be important, but because of the natural order of things. There are other people who are not important, but who seem to be important I don't know whether this Is merely the result of chance or Is brought about by good management. Which ever it Is, it seems to require no great effort by them, and they undoubtedly un-doubtedly fool a great many people. Sometimes I suspect that they even fool themselves. There are still others of high ambition or perhaps strong egotism who notwithstanding notwithstand-ing their vast expenditure of effort, thought, and Imagination, are unable to make themselves seem Important ; and their persistence is a trial to their own nerves, and an Irritation or, even worse, a bore to their acquaintances. "Now, is seems to me that being Important must be rather burdensome, burden-some, and seeming to be important is even more so. On him who Is Important Im-portant many things are loaded that, by rights, should be carried by other oth-er people, but with his peculiar talents tal-ents I doubt that he finds oppressive a load that would crush most of the rest of us. Importance Is his job In the world, and he Is built to endure it. It Is not likely that the burden of imitation importance that Is, that carried by the people who seem Important Im-portant Is nearly so heavy ; added to the workaday pack of him who Is important it Is probable that It would hardly be noticed ; but for the carriers it Is sometimes so great that close observation shows that now and then they stagger under It for all their knack of maintaining misleading appearances. Theirs Is a hard life, but they like It because so many people think that they are Important. "Ily sympathy goes out to those who want to seem Important, and can't They strive so hard, and achieve so little. Nor do they ask much, for while they would undoubtedly undoubt-edly like to be Important, they would be fairly well content If they could Just manage to seem Important Life with them must be a succession of disappointments, of trial and error, with error predominating. It seems to me that somebody whose oral flow and command of expression were equal to It should explain to them that they do not know when they are well off, for not being Important Is one of the easiest If not the eas- test of life's assignments. He who Is important pays for it with hard work, however equal to the task he may be; he who seems to be important impor-tant pays for It with worry, whatever what-ever the degree of tranquility he may present to the world ; ho who falls In his efforts to seem important must find a bitter tang In all life's savors; on the other hand, he who Is willing to leave the job of being Important, Im-portant, or seeming important, to others Is relieved of many of life's most arduous requirements. Ills responsibilities re-sponsibilities are light and his obligations obli-gations are lighter, for he docs not, like the people who are Important or who seem Important, have to be all things to all men. It Is his privilege to get out of the hurly burly for a contemplative period now and then, and thank his lucky stars that he has no aspiraflons that Interfere with a quiet and comfortable life. "'What tilings do you regard as Important nowadays?' I asked Buck. "'How would I knowr be responded. re-sponded. "'Why shouldn't you know?' "'Only the historians of century hence will be able to tell what wag Important nowadays.' " Indianapolis News. |