| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 21 |
Page 4 |
A writes gives this incident, which is in the line of what has been written: The principal of a girls’ school once administered an effective rebuke to a pupil who was always complaining of her aliments. This student came to school one morning whining about a “dreadful cold.” The teacher said cheerfully, “Oh, “I’m so glad you have one!” Naturally the girl was astonished; but the wise woman continued, “Why shouldn’t I be glad? You are always doing something to make yourself ill; so, of course, you must enjoy it, and I am happy to have you pleased.”
This stinging sarcasm opened the girl’s eyes to the knowledge that she herself was responsible, to a large extent, for her own bodily conditions, and that it was a reflection upon her intelligence, as well as her conscience, thus to ignore the laws of her physical being. No same person ever points with pride to the existence in himself of mental defects arising from neglect of intellectual culture. Yet it is nothing uncommon for one to pose as an object of sympathy when ill, from failure to exercise common sense in matters of simple hygiene. Moreover, it is an offence against good breeding to parade one’s distempers before others.
Emerson says on this same subject: “If you have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have a headache, or sciatica, or leprosy, or thunder stroke, I beseech you, by all the angels, to hold your peace.”
Page 4