DEVELOPING WILL-POWER

creative. It calls for intelligence and enthusiasm.
 The man who is ashamed of it is not fit
to be a business man.

It is a curious fact, too, that we have on the
one hand a spirit of complacency, and on the
other hand a spirit of pessimism. Usually, the
two do not exist side by side, but they do in
England.

There is a big difference between complacency
 and optimism. Complacency sits
down and waits, while optimism goes forward.
Complacency is a smooth word for laziness.
Optimism is a better word for energy. We need
more and more optimism, but we would do well
to get rid of complacency. It slows us up. It
prevents us from getting busy and doing the
things that ought to be done.
We have no reason for complacency. Since
the war, we have imported £3,000,000,000
worth of manufactured goods, while 10 per
cent. of our workers were unemployed. Our
markets are filled with foreign food, and our
poor-houses are packed. Our rates and taxes
are four times what they were before the war.
We are no longer a prosperous well-governed
nation.

The optimist is the man who knows all this
and keeps on. He is not being fooled. He is
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