How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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side-shows than their normal friends in the chief rings. The over-activity of the side-show artists is, in effect, a plea for exculpation and exoneration. “ How can you expect me to do my act in the main ring when there are so many fascinating and interesting activities in the side¬ shows ? ” asks the neurotic. “ I am too busy at my job in the side-show to act in the big arena ! ” exclaims the side¬ show artist. Let us examine the three-ring circus, so that we can better understand the relation of life’s side-shows to the realities of the main rings. Some of the side-shows are very closely related to the actual three rings. Family life, for instance, is an important area in the social and sexual rings. When the maintenance of the family becomes the paramount activity of life, it becomes a side-show. Self-esteem and self-confidence are necessary characteristics of any performer in the main rings, but exaggerated to egoism, haughtiness, pride, arrogance, or brutality, these paradies of self-confidence become side-shows. Similarly, games such as bridge, chess, golf, or football are desirable avocations in which one can find recreation. When they become the sole activity—we exclude professional teachers of any sport because these people are necessary and useful members of society—-they fall into the category of side-show activities. There are men to whom a low golf score is far more important than the happiness of their wives, the education of their children, or the pursuit of their occupation. Catalogue of Side-shows The variety of side-shows surrounding the sexual arena are many and diverse, for reasons we have already stated. In no other arena is it so easy to prostitute a normal activity to false ends. The prostitute, the pimp, the gigolo, the “ kept ” woman, the procurer, the theatrical and literary exploiters of sex, indicate not only their essential misanthropy, but also their lack of courage to find employment in more useful ways. Homosexuality