Will power, born during the heroic period, is now stimulated to rapid growth which culminates during the latter part of the reflective period. No longer is he a straw borne on every passing wind of influence, but a human being capable of exercising a moral choice between two courses of action.
His mental and moral stature has been reached by gradual and almost unnoticed gradations; and such growth, which had its beginning in blank chaos, has been even greater and more marvelous than his physical growth between birth and maturity.
Self-flattered, unexperienced, high in hope,
When young, with sanguine cheer and streamers gay,
We cut our cable, launch into the world
And fondly dream each wind and star our friend.
—Young’s Night Thoughts.
CHAPTER V
THE BOY’S VIEWPOINT
A CORRECT understanding of boy-nature is conditioned on one’s ability to obtain his point of view, which differs widely from that of the adult. It has been stated in a previous chapter that the viewpoints of a boy at six, ten, fourteen, and eighteen years of age differ as widely from each other as those of four adults of remotely differing natures and temperaments. We frequently make the mistake of assuming that the boy is a small edition of a man, possessing faculties, emotions, desires, and understanding the same as in the adult but developed in a lesser degree. On the contrary, his mental and psychological processes differ fundamentally from those of maturity. Boys are not little men and should not be judged by men’s standards.
The ignorant peasant who views the masterpieces of the Louvre sees them through dull, uncomprehending eyes. He sees but does not perceive, because his appreciation of artistic beauty is limited by a circumscribed capacity. Just so, the boy, circumscribed by the limitations of his mind and soul, views life and its complex manifestations with such capacities as he possesses. If your mental and psychological limits were those of a boy in the hero-worship period, your tastes, desires, judgments, opinions, and actions would conform exactly to that boy-standard. Your standards of ambition and achievement would be purely physical and therefore you would prefer the prize fighter to the scientist.