I Found The Answer-keep Busy!
By
Del Hughes
Public Accountant, 607 South Euclid Avenue, Bay City, Michigan
In 1943 I landed in a. veterans' hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with three broken
ribs and a punctured lung. This had happened during a practice Marine amphibious
landing off the Hawaiian Islands. I was getting ready to jump off the barge, on to the
beach, when a big breaker swept in, lifted the barge, and threw me off balance and
smashed me on the sands. I fell with such force that one of my broken ribs punctured
my right lung.
After spending three months in the hospital, I got the biggest shock of my life. The
doctors told me that I showed absolutely no improvement. After some serious thinking, I
figured that worry was preventing me from getting well. I had been used to a very active
life, and during these three months I had been flat on my back twenty-four hours a day
with nothing to do but think. The more I thought, the more I worried: worried about
whether I would ever be able to take my place in the world. I worried about whether I
would remain a cripple the rest of my life, and about whether I would ever be able to get
married and live a normal life.
I urged my doctor to move me up to the next ward, which was called the "Country Club"
because the patients were allowed to do almost anything they cared to do.
In this "Country Club" ward, I became interested in contract bridge. I spent six weeks
learning the game, playing bridge with the other fellows, and reading Culbertson's books
on bridge. After six weeks, I was playing nearly every evening for the rest of my stay in
the hospital. I also became interested in painting with oils, and I studied this art under an
instructor every afternoon from three to five. Some of my paintings were so good that
you could almost tell what they were! I also tried my hand at soap and wood carving,
and read a number of books on the subject and found it fascinating. I kept myself so
busy that I had no time to worry about my physical condition. I even found time to read
books on psychology given to me by the Red Cross. At the end of three months, the
entire medical staff came to me and congratulated me on "making an amazing
improvement". Those were the sweetest words I had ever heard since the days I was
born. I wanted to shout with joy.
The point I am trying to make is this: when I had nothing to do but lie on the flat of my
back and worry about my future, I made no improvement whatever. I was poisoning my
body with worry. Even the broken ribs couldn't heal. But as soon as I got my mind off
myself by playing contract bridge, painting oil pictures, and carving wood, the doctors
declared I made "an amazing improvement".
I am now leading a normal healthy life, and my lungs are as good as yours.
Remember what George Bernard Shaw said? "The secret of being miserable is to have
the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not." Keep active, keep busy!
Time Solves A Lot Of Things
By
Louis T. Montant, Jr.