Laugh and Live | Page 3

along with us. We
know whether they are there or not just as we would know _Courage,
Trust and Honor_ were they perched behind us on the saddle.
It is idle to squeal if through association with the former we find
ourselves ditched before we are well under way--for it is coming to us,
sooner or later. We might go far, as some have done, through the lanes
and alleys of ill-gotten gains and luxurious self-indulgence, but we
would pay in the end. So, why not charge them up to "profit and loss"
at the start and kick them off into the gutter where they belong? They
are not for us on our eventful journey through life, and the time to get
rid of them once and for all is when we are young, and mentally and
physically vigorous. Later on when the fires burn low and we still have
them with us they will be hard to push aside.
"To thine own self be true," says the great Shakespeare and how can we
be true to our own selves if we train with inferiors? We are known by
our companionships. We will be rated according to association--good
or bad. The two will not mix for long and we will be one sort of a

fellow or the other. We can't be both.
There was a time, long years ago, in the days of our grandfathers, when
men went to the "bow-wows" and, later on, "came back" as it were, by
making a partial success in life--measured largely by the money they
succeeded in accumulating. That was before the "check-up" system was
invented. Today things are different. Questions are asked--"Where were
you last?"--"Why did you leave there?"--"Have you credentials?"--and
when we shake our weary head and walk away, we fondly wish we had
"taken stock" back there when the "taking" was good.
"To thine own self be true; and it must follow as the night the day, thou
canst not then be false to any man."
When we can analyze ourselves and find that we are living up to the
quoted lines above we may safely lift the limit from our aspirations.
Right here it is well to say that success is not to be computed in dollars
and cents, nor that the will to achieve a successful life is to be
predicated upon the mere accumulation of wealth. First of all, good
health and good minds--then we may laugh loud and long--we're safe
on "first."
So, with these two weapons we may dig down into our aspirations, and,
keeping in view that our policy is that of honesty to ourselves and
toward our fellow man, all we need to do is to go about the program of
life cheerfully and stout of heart--for now we are in a state of
preparedness.
We are at the point where vision starts. Along with this vision must
come the courage of convictions in order that we may feel that our
ideas are important, and because we have such thoughts, we shall
surely succeed. It has often been noticed that when we have had a large
conception and have with force, character, and strength of will carried
it into effect, immediately thereafter a host of people have been able to
say: "I thought of that myself!" Most of us have had the same
experience after reading of a great discovery that we had thrown
overboard because it must not have been "worth while" or someone
else would already have thought of it.

The man who puts life into an idea is acclaimed a genius, because he
does the right thing at the right time. Therein lies the difference
between the genius and a commonplace man.
We all have ambitions, but only the few achieve. A man thinks of a
good thing and says: "Now if I only had the money I'd put that
through." The word "if" was a dent in his courage. With character fully
established, his plan well thought out, he had only to go to those in
command of capital and it would have been forthcoming. He had
something that capital would cheerfully get behind if he had the
courage to back up his claims. To fail was nothing less than moral
cowardice. The will to do had not been efficient. There was a flaw in
the character, after all.
Going back, therefore, to the prescription, we find that a sound body, a
good mind, an honest purpose, and a lack of fear are the essential
elements of success. So, when we have conceived something for the
good of the world and have allowed it to go by default we have
dropped the monkey-wrench into the machinery of our preparedness.
We must look about us for a reason. Have we fallen by