SELF-CONTROL 519"You have a tremendous advantage over the man who does you an
injury: You have it within your power to forgive him, while he has no
such advantage over you."
As I finished writing those lines, I made up my mind that I had come
to the point at which I had to decide on a policy that would serve as
a guide concerning my attitude toward those who criticize my work
or try to destroy my reputation. I reached this decision by reasoning in
somewhat this way:
Two courses of action were open to me. I could waste much of my
time and energy in striking back, or I could devote this energy to fUr-
thering my life's work and let the result of that work serve as my sole
answer to all who would criticize my efforts or question my motives.
I decided on the latter as being the better policy and adopted it.
"By their deeds you shall know them!"
If your deeds are constructive and you are at peace with yourself,
in your own heart, you will not find it necessary to stop and explain
your motives, for they will explain themselves.
The world soon forgets its destroyers. It builds its monuments to
and bestows its honors upon none but its builders. Keep this in mind
and you will more easily reconcile yourself to the policy of refusing to
waste your energies by "striking back" at those who offend you.
Every person who amounts to anything in this world comes to the
point, sooner or later, at which they are forced to settle this question
of policy toward their enemies. If you want proof that it pays to exercise
sufficient Self-Control to refrain from dissipating your vital energies by
striking back, then study the records of all who have risen to high stations
in life and observe how carefully they curbed this destructive habit.
It is a well-known fact that no one ever reached a high station in
life without opposition of a violent nature from jealous and envious
enemies. The late President Warren G. Harding and former President
Wilson and John H. Patterson of the National Cash Register Company
and scores of others whom I could mention, were victims of this cruel