How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
228/400
209 (canvas 229)
The image contains the following text:
mental derangement that is likely to follow if the
successful “ go-getter ” suffers a nervous breakdown later
in life. If holidays bore you or drive you to drink, take
stock of your situation, and begin to broaden the scope
of your interests in men and things. This is nature's
danger signal of future mental disease.
Then there is the situation which often occurs in the
lives of those who are not compelled to work because they
have inherited wealth from hard-working ancestors. In
this case, the social and sexual fronts are frequently
attacked with considerable success, but the work sector is
left unguarded. Not every rich man and not every rich
woman leads such a life—indeed, like poverty, wealth
may be the stimulus to the highest forms of human
enterprise, but when wealth is inherited, it frequently
distorts perspectives and leads to this form of attack, in
itself an index of vital discouragement and a lack of
common sense.
Mischief is the work of the man without work. Men
and women who approach life in this way are likely to be
very charming and gracious individuals, who frequently
marry and have families, belong to some of the best
clubs, play at this and that sport with mock earnestness.
Their essential discouragement lies in the fact that they
do not trust themselves to contribute to the world's
welfare. They are content to work at the titanic task of
defeating their own boredom. Work is the best antidote
against boredom—and without this antidote the insidious
plague of ennui fastens its lethal tentacles about the soul
and body of any man or woman who denies the law that
every adult has useful work to do. That is why drug addic¬
tion, chronic alcoholism, gambling, sexual perversion,
and other aberrations of human conduct are so frequently
found in idle men and women. By a queer distortion of
vital perspectives, the rich idlers who belong to this
group are frequently the ideals of the hard-working
masses who do not know how lucky they are to have a
job that demands some objective contribution from them,
some job that gives discipline and meaning to their life.