How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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age he became cruel towards his younger brothers, and
attempted in every way to enforce his authority on them
as the oldest son, and his father’s surrogate. He became
pedantic in his exactions of compliance and obedience
from his brothers who hated him cordially for his self-
assumed powers. He studied hard in school so that he
might the more easily retain his place as the head of the
three boys. Finally, he developed such a splendid
technique of sexual conquest that he was rated the Don
Juan of his family, but he took every possible effort to
ridicule his younger brothers when they attempted to
take out a girl. In this way, and in many other equally
fatuous ways, he strove hard to retain his position as the
head of the family.
Because his father’s campaign of deprecation had
materially battered his self-esteem, Mr. Johnson was
never quite certain that he could retain his position. He
left his father’s house at an early age because he could
not bear to live on the scene of his childhood defeats.
He married a timid little woman who offered very little
challenge to his self-esteem. His two children were as
definitely dominated by his discipline and authority as
he had been dominated by his father. He always bought
the longest and most powerful car on the market. He
passed every other car on the road, scattering curses at
every other driver. Whatever circle he found himself in,
Mr. Johnson either dominated or deprecated. His
unconscious goal demanded that he be the first, the chief,
the greatest. His profoundest fear was that he might be
overlooked, or that someone should get ahead of him
and place him again in the intolerable position of his
childhood when he was compelled to face his father s
ridicule and swallow his humiliation for fear of having
a beating added to the insult to his self-esteem.
When we have examined that pattern of Mr. Johnson s
life we see the usefulness of this strange character trait
of driving at the head of every procession. We do not
need the fanciful explanation of the endocrinologists or
the psychoanalysts. Common sense shows us that driving