Why do you think your automobile tyres stand up on the roadand take so much punishment? At first， the manufacturers triedto make a tyre that would resist the shocks of the road. It wassoon cut to ribbons. Then they made a tyre that would absorbthe shocks of the road. That tyre could “take it”。 You and I willlast longer， and enjoy smoother riding， if we learn to absorb theshocks and jolts along the rocky road of life.
What will happen to you and me if we resist the shocks of lifeinstead of absorbing them? What will happen if we refuse to “bend like the willow” and insist on resisting like the oak? The answer iseasy. We will set up a series of inner conflicts. We will be worried，tense， strained， and neurotic.
If we go still further and reject the harsh world of reality andretreat into a dream world of our own making， we will then beinsane.
During the war， millions of frightened soldiers had either toaccept the inevitable or break under the strain. To illustrate， let’stake the case of William H. Casselius， 7126 76th Street， Glendale，New York. Here is a prize-winning talk he gave before one of myadult-education classes in New York：“Shortly after I joined the Coast Guard， I was assigned toone of the hottest spots on this side of the Atlantic. I was madea supervisor of explosives. Imagine it. Me！ A biscuit salesmanbecoming a supervisor of explosives！ The very thought of findingyourself standing on top of thousands of tons of T.N.T. is enoughto chill the marrow in a cracker salesman’s bones. I was givenonly two days of instruction; and what I learned filled me witheven more terror. I’ll never forget my first assignment. On a dark，cold， foggy day， I was given my orders on the open pier of CavenPoint， Bayonne， New Jersey.
“I was assigned to Hold No. 5 on my ship. I had to work downin that hold with five longshoremen. They had strong backs，but they knew nothing whatever about explosives. And theywere loading blockbusters， each one of which contained a tonof T.N.T.—enough explosive to blow that old ship to kingdomcome. These blockbusters were being lowered by two cables. Ikept saying to myself： Suppose one of those cables slipped—orbroke！ Oh， boy！ Was I scared！ I trembled. My mouth was dry. Myknees sagged. My heart pounded. But I couldn’t run away. Thatwould be desertion. I would be disgraced—my parents would be disgraced—and I might be shot for desertion. I couldn’t run. I hadto stay. I kept looking at the careless way those longshoremen werehandling those blockbusters. The ship might blow up any minute.
After an hour or more of this spine-chilling terror， I began to usea little common sense. I gave myself a good talking to. I said： ‘Lookhere！ So you are blown up. So what！ You will never know thedifference！ It will be an easy way to die. Much better than dyingby cancer. Don’t be a fool. You can’t expect to live for ever！ You’vegot to do this job—or be shot. So you might as well like it.’
“I talked to myself like that for hours; and I began to feel atease. Finally， I overcame my worry and fears by forcing myself toaccept an inevitable situation.
“I’ll never forget that lesson. Every time I am tempted nowto worry about something I can’t possibly change， I shrug myshoulders and say： ‘Forget it.’ I find that it works—even for abiscuit salesman.” Hooray！ Let’s give three cheers and one cheermore for the biscuit salesman of the Pinafore.
“Try to bear lightly what needs must be.” Those words werespoken 399 years before Christ was born; but this worrying oldworld needs those words today more than ever before： “Try tobear lightly what needs must be.”
To break the worry habit before it breaks you， Rule 4 is：Co-operate with the inevitable.
Chapter 40
Put A “Stop-Loss” Order On Your Worries
Would you like to know how to make money on the StockExchange? Well， so would a million other people—and if I knewthe answer， this book would sell for a fabulous price. However，there’s one good idea that some successful operators use. Thisstory was told to me by Charles Roberts， an investment counselorwith offices at 17 East 42nd Street， New York.
“I originally came up to New York from Texas with twentythousand dollars which my friends had given me to invest inthe stock market，” Charles Roberts told me. “I thought，” hecontinued， “that I knew the ropes in the stock market; but I lostevery cent. True， I made a lot of profit on some deals; but I endedup by losing everything.
“I did not mind so much losing my own money，” Mr. Robertsexplained， “but I felt terrible about having lost my friends’ money，even though they could well afford it. I dreaded facing them againafter our venture had turned out so unfortunately， but， to myastonishment， they not only were good sports about it， but provedto be incurable optimists.
“I knew I had been trading on a hit-or-miss basis and dependinglargely on luck and other people’s opinions. As H. I. Phillips said， Ihad been ‘playing the stock market by ear’。
“I began to think over my mistakes and I determined thatbefore I went back into the market again， I would try to find outwhat it was all about. So I sought out and became acquaintedwith one of the most successful speculators who ever lived：Burton S. Castles. I believed I could learn a great deal from himbecause he had long enjoyed the reputation of being successfulyear after year and I knew that such a career was not the result ofmere chance or luck.
“He asked me a few questions about how I had traded before andthen told me what I believe is the most important principle in trading.
He said： ‘I put a stop-loss order on every market commitment I make.
If I buy a stock at， say， fifty dollars a share， I immediately place astop-loss order on it at fortyfive.’ that means that when and if thestock should decline as much as five points below its cost， it wouldbe sold automatically， thereby， limiting the loss to five points.
“‘If your commitments are intelligently made in the first place，’