Don't Be the Grouch, Says Editor, Jan. 12, 1925

The Grouch

Are you a grouch? Stop and think before you say “no.” Most of us will be included to shout “no” that indignantly when we put the question to ourselves. And yet, how many of us are really free from the charge of being grouchy the minute things are not just what we want them to be. As long as things are the way we want them we are extremely nice and pleasant. But just let the peaceful conditions be disturbed, ever so slightly, and our mental atmosphere changes with it.

Everywhere you see the slogan “Keep Smiling.” Songs and poems have been written about it. And it’s good sound doctrine! Smiles are the natural antidotes of grouchiness.

Do not smile only when there is fair weather ahead. “The person worthwhile is the one who will smile, when everything goes dead wrong.” Don’t be like a prism. A prism can only sparkle and radiate light and color when it catches the bright rays of the sun. Otherwise, in the shadow, it is a dull sorrowful object. Keep smiling when the odds are against you. You can accomplish much more with a smile than with a frown, for remember that “a smile will go a long, long way.” Everybody hates a frowning, grouchy person, and everybody loves a happy smiling one. A frown spreads gloom everywhere whereas a smile is irresistible and spreads sunshine. You yourself will feel much happier, if instead of frowning, you will acquire the habit of smiling. See the effect that your smiling will produce. Try it out, and let us banish frowns from our class rooms and let smiles reign in their places. And let the “Grouch” make a welcome exodus. We have no room for the grouch at school, and we don’t want him. He only retards our progress. He makes us feel unpleasant and gloomy, and in such an atmosphere no one can work well. A grouch causes a general state of unpleasantness. He is not only a nuisance to himself, but a nuisance to everybody else. No one wants him for a companion.

However, everybody loves a happy smiling companion. We want to make our school “grouchless.” Let us try it.

“H”

From the editorial page of The Pointer, High Point, N.C., January 12, 1925

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