SELF-CONTROL 543On the other hand, if you refuse to become angry, if you retain
your self-composure and remain calm and serene, you take the other
person by surprise. You retaliate with a weapon with which he or she is
unfamiliar, consequently you easily dominate.
Like attracts like! There's no denying this!
Literally speaking, every person with whom you come in contact
is a mental looking-glass in which you may see a perfect reflection of
your own mental attitude.
As an example of direct application of the law of retaliation, let
me cite an experience that I recently had with my two small boys,
Napoleon Junior and James.
We were on our way to the park to feed the birds and squirrels.
Napoleon Junior had bought a bag of peanuts and James had bought
a box of Cracker Jack. James took a notion to sample the peanuts.
Without asking permission he reached over and made a grab for the
bag. He missed and Napoleon Junior "retaliated" with his left fist,
which landed rather briskly on James' jaw.
I said to James, "Now, see here, son, you didn't go about getting
those peanuts in the right manner. Let me show you how to get them:'
It all happened so quickly that I hadn't the slightest idea when I spoke
what I was going to suggest to James.
Then I thought of the experiments we had been doing in con-
nection with the law of retaliation, so I said to James, "Open your box
of Cracker Jack, offer your little brother some, and see what happens:'
After considerable coaxing I persuaded him to do so. Then a remarkable
thing happened-out of which I learned my greatest lesson in sales-
manship: Bifore Napoleon would touch the Cracker Jack, he insisted on pouring
some oj his peanuts into James' overcoat pocket. He "retaliated in kind"! Out
of this simple experiment with two small boys, I learned more about
the art of managing them than I could have learned in any other way.
None of us has advanced far beyond Napoleon Junior and James
as far as the operation and influence of this law of retaliation is