Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 246, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1912 — BEST TO RELY ON YOURSELF [ARTICLE]

BEST TO RELY ON YOURSELF

Only the Weak Are Constantly Making Confidences, and Little Benefit Is Derived. The men and women who go through life without making confidences are the strong ones of the world. They are their own tribunal; they stand or fall by their own judgments, accept good or evil fortune without inviting congratulation or pity, and deal with circumstances regardless of the praise or blame of others. A personal confidence nearly always presupposes weakness. It is usually an appeal from one’s own mind to the mind of another, either for support, for commendation or for sympathy. The maker, consciously or not, desires one of three things: to be confirmed in his own opinion, to receive the praise which he considers his due, or to make sure that some other realizes what he is called upon to suffer. He is not self-sufficient. He must verify his estimate of himself before he can rest on it. A confidence also is often the simple result of a very human desire to fill the center of the stage, even though it be only for an hour, and before an audience of one. It is an almost pitiful effort to assert Individuality. to rise out of the ranks, to demand attention. It is a weak expression of that nearly universal trait, which, when at its strongest, and combined with genius, glves us a Napoleon. The person who makes'a confidence is almost certainly doomed to disappointment, for the perfectly satisfying confidence requires the perfectly satisfactory confidant, and it is not often, with the best will in the world, that one nature can fully Satisfy the demands of another. It is as though nature meant us to keep our deepest experiences to ourselves, and with great precaution closes the door which she has inadvertently set ajar. Those who are wiseaccept the isolation which is indicated, and are satisfied to let their deeds alone bear witness to that which Is within. —The Housekeeper.