On Understanding Parents November 11, 1956
After we have left childhood and youth behind, and have taken our places as parents, we understand many things that were not clear to us before. But before we personally face the problems of parents...
On--or Over the Edge August 12, 1956
Some twenty centuries ago, Epictetus gave us these very modern-sounding sentences: “It needs but a little to overthrow and destroy everything—just a slight aberration from reason. For the...
So Many Unessentials June 10, 1956
We often begin new seasons with new plans and purposes _ but the months move by, and we look back and wonder how they could have gone so suddenly and soon. Only another day or two and this year will...
So Take Your Choice September 30, 1956
Some Consequences of Quarreling March 25, 1956
There is an old hymn which could well be quoted often, and oftener remembered: “There is beauty all around, When there’s love at home; There is joy in ev’ry sound, When...
Success Is Never Final… Nor Failure January 1, 1956
In a sense, “success is never final.” The moment we close the books on one year we open them on another, and compare our performance with the past. In business we look back and compare...
Success--of Quantity and Quality January 8, 1956
On this question again of success and failure, and of closing the books upon the past, and then of having to turn around and repeat our performance: Life is very much like that⎯always⎯every week,...
The Courage to Carry Responsibility December 2, 1956
It seems sometimes that there is less, or at least too little, willingness on the part of too many people to accept real responsibility⎯for themselves or for their decisions, of for the soundness...
The Courage to Face Facts December 16, 1956
In the process of adjusting to life, we all have some problems. And growing up is part of the process and the problem⎯sometimes a rather painful part. As Paul comments: “When I was a child, I...
The Courage to Live With Uncertainty… December 9, 1956
Each day brings its own news, it sown uncertainties and decisions. Not for any of us is life always or ever altogether controllable or predictable or safe or certain. We all have to adjust to...
The Letdowns in Life July 15, 1956
The Love of Light and Learning… April 8, 1956
Scripture and reason and revelation, as well as the very awareness within us, all attest to man’s eternal continuance. Since this is so, since men are immortal, how should we best use our...
The Momentous Matter of Marriage May 20, 1956
In the memorable play, Our Town, the philosophizing stage manager speaks these thoughtful lines: “I’m awfully interested in how big things . . . begin. You know how it is: you’re...
The Power of Prevention July 29, 1956
We should like to turn for a moment or two to the power of prevention. It seems sometimes that we spend too much of our lives putting out fires—too much time running to meet emergencies—too much...
The Power to Appreciate the Present October 28, 1956
The Process of Procrastination September 23, 1956
We have talked of the tension of pretending⎯of insincerity, of pretending to be what we aren’t, of pretending to be doing what we aren’t doing. There is yet another side of this subject...
The Tension of Pretense September 16, 1956
There are, in literature and in life, some interesting tales of the tensions that come from leading a double life. In the field of espionage, for example, there would seem to be little time for...
The Thoughts We Think September 9, 1956
It was Cicero who said: “To think is to live.” Many other eminent observers have suggested the prime importance of the thoughts a person thinks⎯for thoughts are the forerunners both of...
The Warning Signs and Symptoms August 5, 1956
We should like to consider another side of the power of prevention: Often we become so busy in life that we ignore the first symptoms and the warning signs in many matters. Under the pressures of a...
There Is No Right Way to Do a Wrong Thing January 29, 1956
Whether we know it or not, whether we recognize it or not, it is still, and always, happiness that we pursue. But with poor decisions or thoughtless acts or utterances, some of us sometimes seem to...