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

usually manages to escape from the obligations and obstacles of the present by focussing his vital energies on an existence in a future and better world where his aristocratic security will be assured ,by his negation of life on this planet. By gradations, through sensualism and romanticism, we arrive at the passive cooperation of self-complacency, whose philosophy is that of “ Let well enough alone Half-way between pessimism and optimism, half-way between objectivity and subjectivity are the human drifters and the turnips who make up the large majority of mankind. Through ignorance or fear they do not analyse their situations or attempt to improve their human lot, but they do not evade the simple obligations of life. They are the human vegetables, the background of the human comedy, the “ shouts and murmurs ” that are heard in the wings of life’s stage. Their view is not wide ; their mental horizons barely adequate. They pay their grocery bills, take the wonders of science for granted, believe what is printed in the newspaper, own motor-cars and wireless sets, obey the laws, and vegetate handsomely on their allotted crust of earth. We come finally to the consideration of the good life. For those who seek the larger happiness and the greater effectiveness open to human beings there can be but one philosophy of life, the philosophy of constructive altruism. The truly happy man is always a fighting optimist. Optimism includes not only altruism but also social responsibility, social courage, and objectivity. Men and women who are compensating for their feelings of inferiority in terms of social service, men and women who are vigorously affirming life, facing realities like adults, meeting difficulties with stoicism, men and women who combine knowledge with kindliness, who spice their sense of humour with the zest of living—in a word, complete human beings, are to be found only in this category. This is the golden way of life. This is the satisfying life. This is the way to be happy though human.