How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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other in a vicious and endless circle. This is the tragedy of ignorance. The Case of Robert Let us take an example to illustrate the role of ignorance in the production of unhappiness. Robert, aged four, was the eldest son of a magistrate. When Robert was a child, his father was already a relatively great man. He stood for law and order in his community. Robert saw other great men coming to consult with his father. He knew that the entire life of his family was sub¬ ordinated to his father when his father was in an important conference. If his father was in his study writing a decision, everyone had to walk very quietly and talk in a whisper. Robert believed that to be a man one must be a great man like his father. But when Robert was four, he"could not even read. In fact, he could not even ride a bicycle like Julian, his five-year-old neighbour. Robert was depressed by a secret and unconscious discourage¬ ment. He had already begun to doubt the validity of his material for self-sculpture. Robert began to play “ robbers ” with the other boys in the street. He knew that his father had great powers over the police. Then he made a great, it mistaken, discovery. If he could fool the 44 bobbies ” he would be smarter than his father. He began to play the role of robber passionately in the street, in a discouraged attempt to compensate for his sense of weakness. We adults know this is a mistake, but this five-year-old boy did not understand the objective relationships between authority and crime. Robert also began to tease and torture his younger sister Marian at this time. He vaunted his power over her. He refused to play with her friends. “ What good are girls, anyhow 1 ” he said. “ They can t even climb 1 ” A wise and knowing parent would have considered this statement very significant as an expression of deep dis¬ couragement. At that time Robert already had a false