Explaining the Success

It was easy to explain the successes. The boy with the too-big ears, who had been told that he looked like a taxi-cab with both doors open. He had been ridiculed all his life-often cruelly. Association with playmates meant humiliation and pain. Why shouldn't he avoid social contacts? Why shouldn't he become afraid of people and retire into himself? Terribly afraid to express himself in any way it was no wonder he became known as a moron. When his ears were corrected, it would seem only natural that the cause of his embarrassment and humiliation had been removed and that he should assume a normal role in life which he did.

Or consider the sales-man who suffered a facial disfigurement as the result of an automobile accident. Each morning when he shaved he could see the horrible disfiguring scar on Ms cheek and the grotesque twist to his mouth. For the first time in his life he became painfully self-conscious. He was ashamed of himself and felt that his appearance must be repulsive to others. The scar became an obsession with him. He was "different" from other people. He began to "wonder" what others were thinking of him. Soon Ms ego was even more mutilated than his face. He began to lose confidence in himself. He became bitter and hostile. Soon almost all his attention was directed toward himself and his primary goal became the protection of his ego and the avoidance of situations which might bring humiliation.

It is easy to understand how the correction of his facial disfigurement and the restoration of a "normal" face would overnight change this man's entire attitude and outlook, his feelings about himself, and result in greater success in his work.