Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

13 articles on this Page

Sip aitb uwn the (SLoauert.\

News
Cite
Share

Sip aitb uwn the (SLoauert. THE TRAGEDY OF FREQUENCY. George Eliot, in one of her works, says T«e element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency has not yet wrought itself into the coarse emotion of mankind and perhaps our frames could hardly bear mueh of it. If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be hke hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded 1 with stupidity." Some of the grimmest jokes and the most tearful humour in the world are based on this element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency. We forget that the frequent event may happen only once, nay, certainly can ooly happen once, to each individual. There are, it is said, fifteen hundred millions of human beings alive on the earth at this present moment. What wonderful creatures men, women, and children would be if they were not so frequent No matter how awful the experience that swoops down on the individual life it is common--frequent —and raises no sympathy; cals forth no pity. To the one who is goi through the experience it is as strange—as tragic as it this were the first time it Had been known on earth. t la war, violent death, nrjtilation, famine, and out- rage become frequent and the element of tragedy is lost sight ef, but it is there, and every mangled body-every death—comes home to somebody with all its horror and life-long loss. There is an element of tragedy in common daily work-in its frequency. The tasfc comes round and has to be discharged somehow Do you think I have written this column almost every week for eighteen years without that element Of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency not coming to me. If I wcra to tell you under wfoat varying conditions I have written this column. you would recognize the element of tragedy which hovers about your own life our lives are very much alike. The crowd in the street would laugh if any one grew angry at frequent injustice, or cruelty, or wrong. And yet it is -eur duty to startle one another into realization of that element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency. The wrongest things are those which are most common and that create least comment. ON BEING ONESELF. The difficulty of being oneself is very great in civilized life, The price to be paid for the pleasures, advantages, and sympathy of living in a community amongst one's fellows is the repression and modifica- tion and disguising of self. Concessions of all sorts have to be made to fashion and custom, if it is only to avoid observation and criticism, and to be allowed to be oneself. If ve would honestly confess to our likes and dislikes, our follies and passions, our aims and desires we should find that we are all very much alike but we make pretence lest we should reveal ourselves and be taken at a disadvantage. The man who seeks office or position cannot be himself. He must modify himself so as to win support. The man who desires to move in society must observe the rules and tricks of society, and must repress everything that society does not con. sider to be the mode, and he must learn the catchwords of society. To win good opinions, the price for them must be paid, and every good opinion is purchased at some more or less serious sacrifice of self. Every departure from conventional usage and every obedience to the dictates of self tends to pain and isolation, and pain and isolation are undesirable and objectionable. If a man can treat himself as if he were dead, or as other people treat him, then he may go his own way and be true to himself. To the few who can do this the world is an intelligible and pleasant place. Dead men are not afraid of Mrs Grundy, or of any blame or censure that the world can give. I much doubt whether a man is justified in thinking more of himself than the community in which he lives thinks of him, or whether he is entitled to anything, or should strongly desire any- thing, which the community does not freely give him. He carries about in his own skin all that is absolutely necessary for himself, and if he finds it impossible to obtain food and shelter and clothes, he need not trouble about being himself. The world of each individual is very small-how small is scarcely realized by the individual. Tnere are more than four millions of little individual worlds in London alcne, and although it is true, in a sense, that in London a person may do as he pleases, he is always in contact with somebody whose notions of propriety must be considered. Most people are afraid ot themselves. They dare not take themselves in both hands and, regardless of grammar and public opinion, say, ''This is me." Just as a man is sometimes startled when he sees his own photograph, and is disposed to disown him- self, so a man is often tempted to disown his real < self, the self that society censures. You cannot always tell people your opinion even I when they have asked for it. If you say to a person You are a fool sir you have done what I you ought not to have done. You are blind, and j have made mistakes which show you lack power of judgment," he will hate you. On the other hand, 1 you cannot go to a person and say I love you. The mere sight of you makes life pleasant to me s Much is made easy by your approval that would else be impossible." If you were to say this, you ( would make things very awkward for yourself. So ] love and hate and truth dissimulate and life becomes full of feigning. t How early in their existence children learn to ( pretend that they do not want the desirable thing J How soon they acquire the art of pretending that 8 they are not wounded. Tho3e who are growing grey 8 aave made this feigning a sort of second nature. The natural prompting js put down sternly and we look so calm and decorous and altogether placid that we are even reproached with not possessing the tendencies and desires and longings so completely held in check. To be oneself at the cost of other selves is mean and shabby, and so life is maimed and impoverished in secret ways We may laugh at the child that weeps on its way to school. How trifling seems the cause of sorrow But to the child the cause is fully adequate. We are all children going reluctant and weeping to school, and our tears are not dried by the laughter of those who see that from their standpoint we have no cause for weeping. ping To be oneself completely might inflict pain where we have no right to inflict pain, and to place burdens where we have no right to place burdens. Those other beings who seem +0 be necessary to us have also the right to be themselves. Perhaps no other life than our own is necessary for us. That is the question. Just as physically we devour other creatures so mentally and spiritually and emotionally we devour other creatures—live upon them—need them. This is the fringe of a hard subject, and touches the question of the individual's right to be himself at any cost. I turn aside. What man will be in long ages to come is not more easily guessed than what he was in long ages paat. Only one thing is certain, namely, that he cannot destroy or injure his real self, and the Human Being is being handed down the ages, and is modified by millions of unrecognized forces. I have reached the doors of mystery, and if I have taken you with me and you catch even a glimpse of what awful, mysterious beings we are then I am satisfied. Let us try to be ourselves even if we weakly label ourselves with false trademarks in order to pacify Mrs Grundy and to be allowed to live among our fellows. The Coast P. W.

Advertising

ant) district. ,..........................................................-....................................................."'.............................................................................."'-..........................................................."-.....""....

ABERYSTWYTH.j

SALE OF FREEHOLD PROPERTY.

--------_§por.te itnb JlihIctus,

" ABERAYRON.

MARRIAGE OF MR J. M. HOWELL…

Advertising

Jntpcriiil Parliament

[No title]

THE CHIEF CONSTABLES HIP OF…

Advertising