Personal Development
The place is now too small. He must have a house with
more rooms. The Ford Coupe must be replaced by a Cadillac sedan, so there
will be room for company in the cross country tours. On and on the story
goes, ad infinitum!
The young man receives a salary sufficient to keep him and his family fairly comfortable. Then comes a promotion and an advance in salary of a thousand dollars a year. Does he lay the extra thousand dollars away in the savings account and continue living as before?
He does nothing of the sort. Immediately he must trade the old car in for a new one. A porch must be added to the house. The wife needs a new wardrobe. The table must be set with better food and more of it. (Pity his poor, groaning stomach.) At the end of the year is he better off with the increase? He is nothing of the sort! The more he gets the more he wants, and the rule applies to the man with millions the same as to the man with but a few thousands.
The young man selects the girl of his choice, believing he cannot live without her. After he gets her he is not sure that he can live with her. If a man remains a bachelor he wonders why he is so stupid as to deprive himself of the joys of married life. If he marries he wonders how she happened to catch him off guard long enough to "harpoon" him.
And the god of Destiny cries out
"O fool, 0 fool! You are damned if you DO and you are damned if you DON'T."
At every crossroad of Life the imps of Discontentment stand in the shadows of the back-ground, with a grin of mockery on their faces, crying out "Take the road of your own choice! We will get you in the end!"
At last man becomes disillusioned and begins to learn
that Happiness and Contentment are not of this world. Then begins the search
for the password that will open the door to him in some world of which he
knows not.
Surely there must be Happiness on the other side of the Great Divide. In desperation his tired, care-worn heart turns to religion for hope and encouragement. But, his troubles are not over; they are just starting!
"Come into our tent and accept our creed," says one sect, "and you may go straight to heaven after death."