WHY ARE YE FEARFUL?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 68, 22 June 1942, Page 2

WHY ARE YE FEARFUL?

ROUT FEAR WITH A SMILE

By Laurence Hope

In these articles I have endeavoured to stress the importance of cheerfulness, the need for cheerfulness; and 1 have tried to point out that it is as easy to be checrful as to be gloomy—if you definitely seek cheer instead of gloom. Trouble is that too many people accept misery as man's birthright, and go searching for it in order to prove they're not mistaken. Jt isn't true. What a mission! If I happen to be miserable and depressed, I ; don't want anyone to commiserate with me. I want some strong, bright, hearty soul to come along and prove I'm wrong. Unhappiness makes me So I won't have it. I cut the word, out of the dictionary. For every unpleasant thing in life, match the lovely things. Most of us don't. Those of us who do find the balance come out on the side of happiness. I know. IVe got heaps of troubles. I could wring ycur heart with my woes, but I'm not going to. I'm going to count up my blessings and sing a song of thanksgiving. Will you try that, too? Really try it? 1 have no doubts about the result. Remember Poor Job When ugly, wretched thoughts come into my mind I just turn them out. We've all got some gladness in cur lives. It's a pity we value it so little, and exalt our miseries. A famous general, whose army was sore beset in a great battle, sent out a despatch that has become historic. "My front is broken in," he wrote, "my flanks are turned; I am greatly outnumbered. I am going to attack!" That's a grand spirit. Carry it with you into the battle of everyday life. You simply cannot fail. Poor, persecuted Job, whose troubles were much greater than any you will ever know, could yet cry out in the midst of his affections: "Though He slay me, vet will I trust HimJ'" He didn't understand. Who does understand? "Who shall understand the mystery of God?" But wc can trust, and stand firm, and go on fighting. And Ave can smile instead of weep —and we can hold on "when there is nothing left within us except the will which says to us —hold on." Yes, wc can smile. You, whom I nm enrolling in my League o.f Optimists, must learn how to smile. It is the first rule. Disaster aims at breakdown. Breakdown can be averted by courage, faith, and will-power.. You have trouble? If you feel like weeping, remember you've got a funny-bone as well as a wishbone -uxl a backbone. Laugh it oil, wish it off—then use j'our backbone to have it off. Frowns and scowls are more common than smiles. They shouldn't be. They don't do any good. They do a lot of harm. Why do we bother with them? Have ycu ever considered for a moment the immense value of a smile? The following definition of a smile was once given by an American business man who knew the value of a bit of homely philosophy:— '"It costs nothing, but can create much; it enriches those who receive it without impoverishing those who give it; it happens in a Hash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts

for ever. j "None are so rich that they can j get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits; it creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business, and is the countersign of friendship.' "It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, nature's best antidote for trouble. "Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen —for it is something that is no good to anyone until it is given away." You know that is true. In your own life you have experienced the stimulating power of a smile. When you have felt sad and disheartened, when all your skies seemed grey and you could not find a gleam of sunlight anywhere, someone has come into your life with a smile and let the sunshine into your soul. It costs only an effort of will and a belief in happiness and cheer, instead of a tragic acceptance of evil and gloom - Do you think you could smile ? It will do you good. You will feel much better l'or it. And everyone else who sees your happy-hearteil smile will feel better for it, too. Apart altogether i"rom its bright-

ening effect upon your own outlook, and the spiritual beneiit it may confer upon others, remember that a smile is often a good investment. Dale Carneg'e, head ol' the Dale Carnegie Institute of America, says that Charles Schwab, who was millionaire Andrew Carnegie's righthand man, once told him that his smile had brought him in millions of dollars. Anyhow, Andrew Carnegie paid Schwab a million dollars a year —not because he was a genius, not because he knew more about the manufacture of steel than other people, but because bis personality destroyed antagonism—because of his smile. He made people like him (one of the secrets of success), and this not only brought him happiness but proved so advantageous in his business contacts that it earned him a salary of a million dollars a year. £50 For a Smile When he died, the late Sir John Foster-Eraser, author-journalist, left £50 to an attendant at his London club "because he always gave me a smile and a cheery good morning.

1 knew Sir John well- —a big, cheery, great hearted man who had travelled the world, mingled with the great and the good, consorted with the poor and the humble. He was never Avhat you would call a rich man. But he knew life—its difficulties and dangers, its triumphs and failures, its joys and sorrows.' He knew human nature. He found fame —but he never became too big a man to under-estimate the value of a smile. So, you see, apart altogether from its social and spiritual importance, a smile often pays a rich dividend in pounds, shillings and pence. And remember that the most valuable smile of all is the one we use when things are not going well with us—when danger and adversity lurk ahead, when the arch-enemy Fear is at the door. Rout fear with a smile. Fear knows you are not afraid of it Avhen you smile. It will run when it hears you laugh. It knows you are not an easj r victim, and it will go for in search of someone Aveaker Avhose gloomy portals shout an invitation to enter. There's another thing. Don't forget that if you have dear ones it is up to you to be cheerful for their sake. If someone lo\ r es you it is part of your job to be happy so that they are not made miserable by your depression. Let us be happy, then, for our own sake —and for the sake of those who call us friend. Happiness is not a matter of wealth, position, or influence. It is to be found in the kingdom of the heart.