Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus FearthoughtFletcher, Horace
Philosophy
Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought
Fletcher, Horace
Fear; Happiness
There was a time in my boyhood when mosquitos poisoned and annoyed me
beyond endurance. Each bite represented a great itching welt, and the
buzzing was full of terror in consequence, or, more likely, in the
light of present knowledge, the buzzing inspired fearthought or dread,
and the bite was very poisonous in consequence. At present, mosquito
bites are not poisonous to me, and mosquito sounds are no longer
disagreeable. I do not remember when the deliverance came. Possibly the
cure came through intimate acquaintance. I have lived in localities
where the mosquito thrives all the year round, and in such numbers
that he tires his victims into a state of non-resistance, and in the
calm of non-resistance, physical and mental irritations cease. This
is sometimes called acclimatization, but it proves the contention,
whichever way it is interpreted.
In the practice of my freedom from what was once a great affliction,
I sometimes brave a swarm of mosquitos by sleeping in their presence
without drawing the bar. If the mosquitos light on me freely, I find
comfort in the evidence of my popularity, and in the fact that I am
probably being of service to something, or somebody, by possibly
diverting attentions that would not be appreciated in like manner by
them. In the morning, when I look in the glass and note the little
red spots that the bites have left, but of which I am not otherwise
conscious, I consider them as a record of my hospitality, and am proud
of them, as the German corps student is proud of the scars on his face,
that are a record of equally foolish bravery or exposure, taken out of
his university course at Heidelberg or elsewhere. My braving of the
mosquitos would certainly be classed as foolish, except as a test
of superiority, but the pin-point red spots soon disappear and do no
permanent harm.
Mosquitos are said to breed in malarial conditions, and for the purpose
of absorbing the malaria. Flies do not exist except in conditions of
ferment, and are of greatest service in carrying it away. Roaches
are splendid scavengers, and are a result, and not a cause, of
unclean conditions. Our warfare should be waged against unclean and
inharmonious conditions, and not against the purifiers and harmonizers
of the conditions.
It is not a difficult matter to rid one's self of repulsions if the
point-of-view is changed. I presume that the most generally detested
creature that is not altogether deadly in its venom is the bedbug.
The bedbug is more of a tradition than a fact, and many of those who
shudder at mention of him have never seen one of his kind. I am sure
that none of his enemies have much if, any, acquaintance with him, as
to the color of his eyes, his habits of thrift, his amiability in his
family and other qualities that serve to make a creature attractive and
respectable within his sphere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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