THE UNEXPECTED.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3380, 27 June 1927, Page 2

THE UNEXPECTED.

Anticipation is undoubtedly one of the greatest pleasures of life; to think, to dream of delights, successes, achievements ahead of one is surely the easiest way to get over the roughest road; only the dullest human beings would care to pursue In’s journey without the golden light of anticipation as a guide. How few of us can afford to forego anticipation is shown by the manner in which we cling to youth, to even the shadow of youth, not being able to endure the realisation that the best of every is not still ahead.

But the eternal lure of to-morrow is too apt to prove an “ignis fatuus,” and to land us at last in the swamps of despair; “hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” and the brightness of the joy of anticipation soon begins to dim when it is never realised; it becomes a mere anodyne, which does nothing but blind ns to realities 100 harsh to bear calmly, and to weave vision whose very brilliancy proclaims them false.

And tliei, too, the realisation of expectations is apt to fall oddly flat; most people who have finally achieved what they set out to achieve grasped what they have longed to grasp, gained the heights which once seemed so impassable, will confess that there is something a little stale, a little disappointing in their success; it does not seem so bright and clear as it did from a distance —a greater hsight has opened up greaterohorizons, the promised land still remains a vision far away.

It is in the unexpected that there lurks the * finest delight—the prize that wo have not hoped for, or even known of. hut which suddenly falls to us, is the one most worth having.

In ancient India when the ruler was childless, the royol elephant was turned loose in the streets of the city, and the first boy be touched with his trunk was chosen to he king. At moment a lad idling in a doorway, poor and sad, tin. next borne into the palace, a royal prince and heir to all the land. Here is the real triumph of the fairy tale, Cinderella among the ashes, then suddenly transformed into a lovely lady in a golden dress, a, theme that never fails to rouse rapture in any audience.

The unexpected—magic- in' itself!

You turn (ho corner round the road with a blank wall, ond before you is a delicious view, changing all the prospect, yen open an ordinary looking letter among a pile of ordinary looking letters, and there is some really good news inside changing nil your life; the quiet little boy of whoso abilities yo i have always been rather diffident gets a coveted scholarship (fie plain girl makes a most desirable marriage—bow much more full of delight are (he.se successes than if they had been toiled after, foreseen for years. There are more subtle forms of the magic of the unexpected; one may make discoveries about oneself; perhaps, the most exciting discoveries of all, something that you find you can do, or enjoy. or obtain, that you thought was altogether beyond your inclination or your power, A man went to and from his business for years passing every clay the somelire front of a museum devoted to Egyptology. a subject in which he had no interest whatever; tut one morning he took shelter there from a downpour of hail and became so instantly absorbed and fascinated by the exhibits (hat he was inspired to lake up Egyptology was a passionate enthusiasm (hat procured him distinction and reward. An elderly woman, bored and disappointed (o the verge of melancholia or suicide, picked up on embroidery magazine—she had always “loathed sewing.” but her attention was caught by an intricate' pattern ; she worked it out and discovered in herself an expert, original and elegant embroideress.

In each of those coses the magic of the unexpected altered the lives of these two people; a corner was turned and an entirely new prospect revealed.

There are events that no one can anticipate and, therefore, the more delightful : something, trifling perhaps, in itself, may suddenly reveal to you a finality you did not think you possessed, a friend you did not know was yours, an opportunity you had not remotely expected. Wo have all of ns these elements of the unexpected in otlrselves; consider the vast possible range of human experience and how little of it most of us touch, consider all the emotions of which we are capable, and bow few of them ever stir ns; we are taught self-control so early and so persistently, we have to concentrate so severely on looking after ourselves in one way or another, that many

of us do with only half our potential qualities or capabilities revealed, often fur loss than half.

A humdrum-looking person going about his business will, when faced with a crisis, instantly risk or forfeit his life for another, a stranger, hero, suddenly revealed.

On the other hand, someone who has passed his existence with credit, even honour, may, when put to a sudden test, prove a coward or a liar; how many people arc not great or good through lack

of opportunity; how many others are well conducted only through fear of being found out; how few there arc who would not have some unsuspected quality to reveol at the magic touch of the unexpected!