| Of
course, you can't unfry an egg, but there is no law against
thinking about it.
If I had my
life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I
would relax. I would be sillier than I have been this
trip. I know of very few things that I would take
seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would go
more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more
rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less bran.
I would have
more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles. You
see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and
sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had
my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would
have more of them - a lot more. I never go anywhere
without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.
If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter.
It may be too
late to unteach an old dog old tricks, but perhaps a word from
the unwise may be of benefit to a coming generation. It
may help them to fall into some of the pitfalls I have
avoided.
If I had my
life to live over, I would pay less attention to people who
teach tension. In a world of specialization we naturally
have a superabundance of individuals who cry at us to be
serious about their individual specialty. They tell us
we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced
and ruined and flunked and failed. After a dozen or so
of these protagonists have worked on a young mind, they are
apt to leave it in hard knots for life. I wish they had
sold me Latin and History as a lark.
I would seek
out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun. I had
a few of them, fortunately, and I figure it was they who kept
me from going entirely to the dogs. From them I learned
how to gather what few scraggly daisies I have gathered along
life's cindery pathway.
If I had my
life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier
in the spring and stay that way a little later in the
fall. I would play hooky more. I would shoot more paper
wads at my teachers. I would have more dogs. I
would keep later hours. I'd have more sweethearts.
I would fish more. I would go to more circuses. I
would go to more dances. I would ride on more
merry-go-rounds. I would be carefree as long as I could,
or at least until I got some care--instead of having my cares
in advance.
More errors
are made solemnly than in fun. The rubs of family life
come in moments of intense seriousness rather that in moments
of light-heartedness. If nations -- to magnify my point
-- declared international carnivals instead of international
war, how much better that would be!
G.K.
Chesterton once said, "A characteristic of the great
saints is their power of levity. Angels can fly because
they can take themselves lightly. One 'settles down'
into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a
gay self-forgetfulness. A person falls into a 'brown
study,' and reaches up at a blue sky."
In a world in
which practically everybody else seems to be consecrated to
the gravity of the situation, I would rise to glorify the
levity of the situation. For I agree with Will Durant
that "gaiety is wiser than wisdom."
I doubt,
however, that I'll do much damage with my creed. The
opposition is too strong. There are too many serious
people trying to get everybody else to be too darned serious.
Don Herold |
