Show THE ART or OF LIFE by reed stott the art of life says charming channing pollock the great dramatist is like the art of writing or painting a process of selection we are successes or failures happy or miserable depending on t the e satisfactions we select and the relative value we put upon spiritual and material possessions almost constantly during our waking moments we are confronted by alternatives by the necessity of selecting of making choices between courses of action and methods of procedure how important it is that in choosing our courses or in selecting our types of satisfactions we make wise evaluations that we make an alliance with the forces that lead us upward and shun those which would throw us in reverse As we look over the field of humanity we find rather distinct groupings from the standpoint of aims ideals or ambitions one large and distinct class are those who emphasize the accumulation of material possessions to this class I 1 would call attention again to the wise counsel of mr pollock a man of ample means and of wide experience A man is rich he maintains not according to what he has but according to what he can do without then he adds some months ago in a magazine article that attracted considerable attention I 1 listed the fifty possessions that I 1 valued most and I 1 found that forty eight of them had not cost me a dime only what I 1 had laid up mentally and spiritually had any real worth what a familiar echo is this from the master on the mount lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also another considerable class of humanity is seeking to be entertained seeking happiness through amusement let us note the case of miss francis dodge how francis matilda dodge 21 year old heiress to the dodge millions spent a quarter of a million dollars in 1935 on maintien ant education and clothing was revealed after the annual ving ting of the estate of her late father john F dodge auto X tl x le 1 magnate heres how the quarter of a million was spent last year A stable of 70 show hordes clothes shoes fur coats riding habits incidentals car and chauffeur travel railroad and steamship fares four months schooling in new york dog kennels on the meadowbrook Meadow brook farms farm estate setting up new dog kennels and kennel maid entertainment pool house for swimming pool maintenance of manor house at meadowbrook Meadow brook this is the class which has failed to distinguish between the values of lasting joys and fleeting pleasures the whole world says ralph parlette Pa riette is trying to find happiness in being amused the world is amusement mad vacations coca cola movie mania and a empty over the of the movies look over the news stands and see a picture of the popular mind for those these places keep just what the people want to buy what a lot of mental frog pond and moral slum or boys and girls wade thru there are ten literary drunkards to one alcoholic drunkard there are a hundred amusement drunkards to one victim of strong drink and all just as hard to cure we have to have amusement but if we fill our lives with nothing but amusement we never grow we go thru our lives with new rattle boxes and goo gaws expert research has demonstrated that mounting numbers are trying to glean their slender satisfactions from mere inactivity they would choose to revive the old song please go way and let me ale sleep they merely hold on to the straps in hopes of brighter days on golden stairs william moulton marston writing in the rotarian magazine says during the past two years I 1 have asked 2997 persons what do you live for I 1 discovered that 94 percent are merely enduring the present while hopefully waiting for some utopia in the future poor souls they are wasting realities for tomorrows speculations sitting bored at a great entertainment waiting for a better show which may never open its a common failing people in every walk of life are afflicted with the fut urite delusion and the forms it takes are many in considering the foregoing human classes we have found them in swollen numbers trudging over the byways by ways of a world in up heavel in vain do they search for what all men would find the travelers guide for the true road of happiness all the world is seeking happiness but so many are seeking it by rattling down instead of by shaking up the happiness is in going up in developing a greater arm a greater mind a greater character happiness is the joy of overcoming it is the delight of an expanding consciousness it is the cry of the eagle mounting upward it is the proof that we are progressing we find happiness in our work not outside of it if we cat can pi find happiness in our work we have the wrong job find the work that fits your talents and stop watching afie clock and planning vacations do not flatter yourself warns marden that you can be realty relley happy unless you are useful happiness and usefulness were born twins aye twins to separate them is fatal P S all the misery and the crime of the world rests upon the failure of human beings to understand the principle that no man can be really happy until he harmonizes with the best thing in him with the divine and not with the brute no one can be happy who tries to harmonize his life with his animal instincts the god the good in him is the only possible thing that can make him happy if we would be truly haeny bailly then we must seek by persistent persi stant effort to developed dev elope the elements of true greatness that are latent in the human soul this cannot be done by short cuts by aby taking ten easy lessons by correspond correspondence ance by summer school or what not christ the great teacher points the true way in dealing with the ambitions of the two sons of zebedee who apparently wanted a short shortcut cut to the top they got very busy observes one commentator pursuing greatness but I 1 do not read that they were half so busy preparing for greatness they even had their mother out electioneering electioneer ing for them OA 0 Master laster said the mother grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom the master looked with love and pity upon their are ye able to drink of the cup then he gave the only definition f fini tion of greatness that can ever stand whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant that is we cannot be born great nor have greatness thrust upon us we must achieve greatness by developing ability to minister and to serve in conclusion I 1 will quote the poem the measure of a man alan not how did he be die but how did he live not what did he gain but what did he give these are the units to measure the worth of a man as a man regardless of birth not what was his station but had he a heart and j how did he play his god given part was he be ever ready I 1 with a word of good cheer 4 to bring back a smile to banish a tear 3 not what was his church nor what was his creed but had he befriended those really in need not what did the sketch i in the newspaper say but how many were sorry when he be passed away |