Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 14, 1953 Page: 18 of 32
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Strana; 48
V Ě.STN.Í K — WEST, TEXAS
Wednesday, Janu ary 14, 1953
DO YOU HÁVE ÍNFERIORITY CO.MPLEX?
1% ■
•A"'
First, you may want to know what we' this partieular boy was a nervous, sick-
are talking about, tliis inferiority com- iy youngster. His motlier once tolcl mě
that, as a baby, he cried more than all
her other řour children com binec!.
This boy’s first. recollection — he could
scarcely háve been more than three at
the timo — was oí his father correcting
i.can disciples tcok up this worcl com- i him for extending a Icft hand in greet-
bination and gave it the benefit of bally- \ ing to a stranger. The parents were not
hoo. Socn it became a topič of conver-! stern, buf they were persistent. It was
plex.
About fořty years, ago, an Austrian
psychologist named Alfred Adier put
together a word combination to express
a specific psychic situ-ation. His Amer-
sation at every breakfast table, and
wound up an accepted houschold term.
Adier died in 1937, dismayed and dis-
tressed at the fate of a scientific coin-
age that .had the bad fortuně to catch
popular fancy.
The term, as you may háve surmised,
was “inferiority complex.” (The word
“complex” was borrowed from Freud
and his psychoanalytic band.) Broadly
speaking, a complex is a series of ideas,
the nucleus of which is a centrál idea
with a high emotional charge. We all
háve Complexes of one kind or another.
Mine may be politics, yours religion; a
neighbcr may reaet with great emo-
tional. force to the subjeet of racial dis-
crimlnation.
Suppose we illustrate by a šimple and
relatively minor example. Let, us say
that you háve large ears. They are
néiťher as huge nor as prominent as you
injagine them to be. Yet we cannot dě-
ny that from the rear you giv.e some-
what the impression of a loving cup on
display.
Incredible as it may seem, you cr.m,
in tlie period of sensitive adolescence,
biiilcť up a substantial complex even cf
such apparently trivial materiál. Nor-
mállý, if you are well adjusted, you wnl
comc to find that you can win love, re-
spect, business advancement, and other
desiderata despite this crushing handi-
cap. Somewhere along the line it may
háve been pointed cut to you that Clark
Gabie has large ears and has doně
rather well for himself, despite the pos-
séssion of ears that are scarcely minuté.
Or you may háve become impressed by
the consoling assertion that large ears
are a mark of intelligence. At any rate,
you Udil tend to outgrow your abnormal
sensitivity, your inferiority complex.
People are not born bashfui or shy.
As in the čase of all ncuroses, Iherc is
a cause. That cause must be discovered
and eliminated before there can be any
lasting relief. The vietim may read -‘will
power” volumes and “personality” tomes
fintil he sufíers cronic eye strain. They
are of no avail.
Lét me relate a little experience story:
A boy whem I know well was born
their duty to “break” a leťt-handed
chiid of an antisocial “hábit.”
The result was that this little. boy,
a nervous systém not too stauneh and
sturdy, became hopelessly eonfused. In-
stinct tolcl him to do one thing while
parental autliority bacle him clo some-
thing different — something trouble-
serne and unnatural.
He became overwhelmed with a sense j defendant:
of insecurity. tle felt that he was
awkord, queer, clifferent in some un-
accoimtable way from his ilglit-handed
brothers. He cáme to dread and feár
visi tors. Their approacli signaled the
hancFshaiung orcleal. Whenever possible
he vvould run and hide. And sinee the
father was a university president and
their liome a sociál center, the kid got
a good deal of exercise. If eseape was
impractiťable, he would cry in genuine
terrer, and later in futile rebellion.
At the age cf five this boy was a
full-fledged neurotic, although the con-
dition was not then rccognized. In
school, teachers continued the program
of converting. a stubborn “southpaw.”
The boy did well enough in the prepara-
lion cf hisTessons, but was diffident
about reci ting. Ile eontmuéd to live in
mor ta; agony at the prospect of meeting
strangers. Regularly, on “speaking May,”
he became physically ili at the prospect
of delivering a recitation. The patťern
of pathologic timidity was becoming
firmlý established.
When he was eleven, this boy suffered
á complete nervous break-clown. He was
Loken oni of school and tlieréafter edu-
cated by přiváté ťutors. Fortunately, by
that timo, doctors had gained a better
ůnderstanding of the neurotic, Ednca-
tors, too, were beginning to see the light,
The boy was permitted to functicn as a
normál lefthanded persón. The timidity
was scientiíieally cornbatted and, over
a period of years, gradually eradicated.
In fact this boy, perhaps. as a result of
what psychiatrists call overeompensa-
tion, became, in later years, a profes-
sional lecturér.
* I háve outlined this čase in detail be-
cause it is a concrete example of how a
I was the vietim! I may add that I am
stih lefthandecl! — Told by Maxwell
Droke, publisher of “Quote” magazíne.
--) ♦ * »
HIS WEAKNESS
In the crowded bus a lanky Ken-
tuckian sat opposite a pretty girl whose
skimpy skirt kept creeping up over her
knees. She fought a cdnstant' battle
;with it, pulling it down, but as soon as:
she 1’éleased her holci, up: it crept.
After ono hard yank, she looked up
and met the gáze of her traveling com-
panfon.
“Don’t stretch your calico, sister,” he
ad visecí her. ‘My weakness is liqm>r.”.
(Contributéci by L, O. H.)
—) * * ♦ (--
The Gcorgia' judge asked the Negro
iieurcsis actually clevelops. As it happens,
Icft-handcd. A trivial circumstance. But i I can speak with some authority becausc
“So you thought ýciťd come back
South and show off your big car, did
you?” ■ ■>■...
“No, sir, sald the defendant. ■
“You don’t drive through red lights
up North, do you?”
“Your Honor” said the*" defendant,
“Fve been away from the South, for 20
years. When I saw all the white people
driving their ears through the green
light, I decided the red One was for us
colored folks.”
“Čase dismissed,” barked the judge.
—Pathfincler
—-----)
Dr. George Washington Carvcr, the
Negro scientist of Tuskegee Institute,
dresséd so simply he was sometimes mis-
taken for the janitor.
One clay a group of boisterous vísitors
approaeheci Carver as he walked on the
campu,s.
“You work here, uncle?” cne of them
asked.
“Yes, sir,” was the reply.
“Do you know this old man named
Carver?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Wonder if we could see him?”
“I clon’t believe he is in his laboratory
right now,” the stranger-sliy scientist
evaded,
“Oh, well,” coneluclecl the visitor, “I
don’t guess we’ve missed much.”
“No, sir,” was the quíet reply, ‘láli
sure he wouldnT interest you.”
————) * * * ~ .
Before yicu get disturbed over the
inerease in divorces, consider the fact
that for the great majority, marriage is
a oompletely new and different experi-
ence.
—--—) ♦ * ♦ (— -
We never critieize a kicker who kieks
toward the goal.
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Valcik, Stephen. Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 14, 1953, newspaper, January 14, 1953; West, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth625065/m1/18/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas.