How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
358/400

without saying, but the great majority of human beings are essentially honest and decent. We would far rather be deceived a dozen times by a scoundrel than allow a really worthy individual to go once without our help. Somehow the rewards of helping a fellow human being in distress outweigh the chagrin of being duped and deceived by a smooth social parasite. On the other hand, there are a great many people, notably professional beggars and the like, who make a profession of preying on the sympathies of their more socially minded neighbours. It is a mistake to give aid to these people. Charity should always be given where you know that your charity is being effectively administered by organizations which make it their business to help the needy and the sick. When you help a social parasite you rob three people—yourself, the really needy who could have been helped by your contribu¬ tion, and the parasite who is encouraged to a useless way of life. How to Start a Friendship Our traditional codes of social conduct are so stultifying that the average man or woman looks at any stranger as if he were a potential enemy. I have often suggested to my patients that they should begin a conversation with their neighbour in the bus or at the theatre simply for the purpose of initiating a conversation, only to have the patient shrink in horror from the suggestion of such forwardness. If we use a little common sense in such contacts there can be no harm in them. If you speak to another human being at an art gallery or a concert, the likelihood is that his goals and aims will be somewhat similar to your own. Most of the individuals who make up a crowd waiting in line at a railway station, at a steam¬ ship pier, or at a theatre, are just as lonely as you are and just as afraid to make contacts. No one says a word, and everyone is bored and distressed. Someone must be more intelligent and more courageous and make the first