depends on you. You can develop qualities that
will make you an attractive companion. Being a
wage earner teaches you how to work with others.
If employed, you can build up a dowry. What quali
ties do you most desire in the man you hope to
marry? Outside of marriage and singleness is far
better than a bad marriage there are many op
portunities for usefulness and happiness. Do the
best you can to achieve your heart's desire and
make up your mind in any event to live happily
and well.
To Young Men
The desire for a fine wife and family is a pow
erful motive in the lives of most young men. The
desire to do nothing that would interfere with the
aspiration to establish a worthy family has stimu
lated many a young man to greater efforts and to
higher standards. Are. you developing in yourself
the qualities which you would desire in the husband
of your sister? Are you choosing your girl com
panions among those who have the qualities you
would wish in a lifelong mate? Ask a few older
men who have been successful in their home life
if they will not talk with you on how to make the
most of that phase of your life.
Foundation Years
To get a picture of your life as a whole, review
carefully your earlier years to age 20. Note that
they are the basic habit-forming years. Note points
of strength Or weakness. What bearing may these
years have on the rest of your life? During the
decade from 10 to 20 you should begin to look at
your life as a whole and plan for it. Make a list of
your talents, preferences, and resources. Study the
various kinds of vocations and the basic skills re
. quired for each. Test your qualifications for the
fields of work that interest you, and then choose
school and outside activities that win help you.
If you do not plan to attend college, outline a pro
gram of continuing study after you leave school.
Vocational success depends on skill, purpose, energy
and integrity.
The Third Decade
Note that the years of life from 20 to 30 usually
include two major decisions: the choice of an oc
cupation or if that decision has been made earlier,
choice of a first job; second, the choice of a mate
and the establishment of a home. Because of these
major decisions, this is one of the most important
decades of your life. Let us assume that the choice
of a vocation has been made before age 20 and that
the task now is to make the best possible start in
that vocation. Let us list the specific things we can
do to get a good start. Let us list the things we
may well avoid. How can we achieve personal cul
tivation? How can the family life be enriched?
Is our standard of living simple enough to provide
savings for the later years? What contribution can
we make to our fellows and to the world? These
choices lay the foundation for the afterself. They
are too important to be left to chance.
The Fourth Becade
If the earlier foundations have been well laid,
the years from 30 to 40 will be peculiarly rich in
satisfactions. The majority of outstanding modern
achievements in inventions, science, professions, art
and literature were made by men and women be
tween the ages of 28 and 40. These are the years
when financial capital is usually accumulated most
rapidly; when wise investment provides for the se
curity of loved ones in the later years ; when chil
dren are getting into high school and college so that
parents live with them in the new world of vibrant
young life. There is danger during these years
that we shall be spoiled by our leisure and com
forts, that we shall spend too recklessly, that we
shall cease to make the efforts toward personal im
provement which must carry us forward if we are
to enjoy the highest excellence. A program of
reading and study is particularly fruitful during
this period.
The Fifth Decade
The years from 40 to 50 are transition years.
Perhaps the hardest thing for youth is to get the
perspective of the middle and later years of life.
This is true if the young person has no companions
and friendships among older people. Make a list
of the people you know who are at this age. Note
the increasing number of breakdowns Note how
those who are successful manage themselves. Note,
that those who pass through these transition years
often enjoy a long life of happiness and achieve
ment. Note your own body. Try to visualize it in
terms of 70 years of action. Seek to understand
the change which comes in middle life when the
supply of energy begins slowly to decrease. Observe
about you the effect o.f this change on others.
Beyond Fifty
Study the lives of those who have passed the
half century mark. Are they happy? At what
points are their lives unsatisfactory? Perhaps the
first problem is that of financial insecurity. Next
comes failing health with its discouragement. Third,
there is often an absence of worthwhile interests
and activities to occupy leisure hours. Could these
difficulties have been avoided by careful planning
in the earlier years? It is just as important to plan
for interests and activities during the later years
of life as it is to plan for financial security during
those years. What foundations have you laid for
hobbies? What contribution will you make to civic
welfare. Select the best among your acquaintances
who are living in the later years. Learn from them.
The Larger Planning
The individual is often caught by forces in the
world outside his control. This is especially true in
times of transition and economic stress. He can make
the most of himself only by joining with his fellows
in a collective effort to improve the state, to perfect
the laws, to restrain the greedy, to insure justice
and opportunity. Include as a part of your planning,
time for taking your part in the larger planning
activities of the community. The idea of planning
may be the chief contribution of the twentieth cen
tury to human progress. To plan beyond the year
or the decade into the life as a whole; to plan be
yond the individual to the family, the neighborhood,
the state, the nation, and even the world, is to
gain a new perspective which knows that many of
the uncertainties of life can be provided for, and a
faith to undertake the task.
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