How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

4. They are uniformly futile. 5. They are always socially irresponsible. 6. They lead to isolation. 7. They are cowardly in a social sense. Two Patterns of Life Let us consider two typical patterns of compensation. One is the case of a man who was left-handed, rachitic, and hated by his parents as a child. During his early schooling he was a rebel against the exceptional brutality of his teachers. His adolescence was marked by isolation, unfriendliness, day-dreaming of extreme power, and the ability to move rapidly. At the age of eighteen he left home to begin work in a motor-car factory. At this point he met a friendly engineer who first initiated him into the amenities of group living. This man enabled him to continue his interrupted studies by proffering financial aid. He became a designer of automobile engines. His friend patented one of his early inventions which brought him freedom from financial worries. Subsequent activities made him a leading designer of engines. He married, assumed the responsibilities of a wife and family. With increasing wealth he endowed a trade school for boys, and with increasing leisure he began a library devoted to the history of technical research. At the present time he devotes some of his time to teaching engineering at a university, is on the board of numerous charities, a member of the Education Committee, a happy and successful human being. The other case is that of a typical neurosis. This is the case of a woman who was an only child, and very much spoiled during the first few years of her life. When she entered school for the first time she had violent temper tantrums which quickly effected her return to her home, where she could play the r6le of a fairy princess without interference. Although she developed very well mentally —a concession to her teachers, in order to be spoiled by them—she was always inclined to be dependent. She