Show PROBING THE PAST by LEONARD A BARRETT theford the word if has occupied no small place in our thinking during these depress on years we it have a v e frequently heard the espres sion if only I 1 had not done this or that if I 1 had only waited and not been so hasty it only tt tl e crash could have been post boned a year or two I 1 would mould have been in a better position to meet it the remorse created by an endeavor to reconstruct the past would be entirely elmina el eliminated inina ted were it possible to erase from our vocal vocabulary that little word if how fow foolish 1 introspection Introspect lon Is a valuable mental at providing we do not let it lead us to self p ty or remorse A rehearsal of past motives and decisions should lead us to avoid repeat ng mis takes otherwise nothing is gained by probing the past when rehears ng a past decision we should have vividly in mind the con dillons in which that decision was made or act performed the difficulty with most of us Is that we divorce the cons aeration de ration of these conditions from our thinking when we let that little word if dominate our mood given the same conditions and the same ex per perien lences ces the chances are that 95 times out of we would do the same things again if I 1 had only known Is a better way to look at it it if I 1 had only known the market was going to crash I 1 would not have invest ed in stock it if I 1 had only known the bank was going to fail fall I 1 would not have made my deposit in that lar bank true if we only knew in advance but we did not an ani I 1 that Is the end of it if we could forget the if and put the same amount of mental energy into the words pluck valor and courage we would be better able to harness the resources that remain and w th more self confidence and hope go forward being sure not to commit the same es again AN I 1 at every person needs today Is 1 courage and self confidence these are attitudes of mind and heart which are self creative and self assertive WH llam james wrote a fine book on the will to believe somebody should write a book on the will to I 1 arget the latter Is one of the secrets of ress 0 m V estern newspaper Newa paper union |