But if we cannot play we can at least learn
the art of good listening. And if we are not musical at all we can
perhaps appreciate true painting, or great poetry, or fine literature.
It all helps.
May I say a plain word or two about the shyness and self-consciousness
in society which so torment young girls? The first thing I would say is
that they will almost certainly pass away before long, and that
therefore they need not be bothered about. Lots of the most effective
and socially successful men and women in the world went through a
painful period of shyness in early youth, and now only smile at the
memory of those days.
In so far as that self-consciousness is produced by society of any
sort, it is based upon the delusion that other people look at us and
think about us a great deal more than they do. It is also due to a
habit of minding what other people think and say a great deal more than
the facts warrant. We are not so important as to attract much general
notice, and other people are not so important that on account of their
prejudices and conventions we should distress ourselves.
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