Am I advocating that we simply bow down to all the adversities that come our way？Not by a long shot！That is mere fatalism.As long as there is a chance that we can save a situation，let’s fight！But when common sense tells us that we are up against something that is so-and cannot be otherwise—then，in the name of our sanity，let’s not look before and after and pine for what is not.
The late Dean Hawkes of Columbia University told me that he had taken a Mother Goose rhyme as one of his mottoes：
For every ailment under the sun.There is a remedy，or there is none；If there be one，try to find it；If there be none，never mind it.
While writing this book，I interviewed a number of the leading business men of America；and I was impressed by the fact that they co-operated with the inevitable and led lives singularly free from worry.If they hadn’t done that，they would have cracked under the strain.Here are a few examples of what I mean：
J.C.Penney，founder of the nation-wide chain of Penney stores，said to me：“I wouldn’t worry if I lost every cent I have because I don’t see what is to be gained by worrying.I do the best job I possibly can；and leave the results in the laps of the gods.”
Henry Ford told me much the same thing.“When I can’t handle events，”he said，“I let them handle themselves.”
When I asked K.T.Keller，president of the Chrysler Corporation，how he kept from worrying，he said：“When I am up against a tough situation，if I can do anything about it，I do it.If I can’t，I just forget it.I never worry about the future，because I know no man living can possibly figure out what is going tohappen in the future.There are so many forces that will affect that future！Nobody can tell what prompts those forces—or understand them.So why worry about them？”
K.T.Keller would be embarrassed if you told him he is a philosopher.He is just a good business man，yet he has stumbled on the same philosophy that Epictetus taught in Rome nineteen centuries ago.“There is only one way to happiness，”Epictetus taught the Romans，“and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
Sarah Bernhardt，the “divine Sarah”was an illustrious example of a woman who knew how to cooperate with the inevitable.For half a century，she had been the reigning queen of the theatre on four continents—the best-loved actress on earth.Then when she was seventy-one and broke—she had lost all her money—her physician，Professor Pozzi of Paris，told her he would have to amputate her leg.While crossing the Atlantic，she had fallen on deck during a storm，and injured her leg severely.Phlebitis developed.Her leg shrank.The pain became so intense that the doctor felt her leg had to be amputated.He was almost afraid to tell the stormy，tempestuous “divine Sarah”what had to be done.He fully expected that the terrible news would set off an explosion of hysteria.But he was wrong.Sarah looked at him a moment，and then said quietly：“If it has to be，it has to be.”It was fate.
As she was being wheeled away to the operating room，her son stood weeping.She waved to him with a gay gesture and said cheerfully：“Don’t go away.I’ll be right back.”
On the way to the operating room she recited a scene from one of her plays.Someone asked her if she were doing this to cheer herself up.She said：“No，to cheer up the doctors and nurses.It will be a strain on them.”
After recovering from the operation，Sarah Bernhardt went on touring the world and enchanting audiences for another seven years.“When we stop fighting the inevitable，”said Elsie Mac-Cormickin a Reader’s Digest article，“we release energy which enables us to create a richer life.”
No one living has enough emotion and vigour to fight the inevitable and，at the same time，enough left over to create a new life.Choose one or the other.You can either bend with the inevitable sleet-storms of life—or you can resist them and break！
I saw that happen on a farm I own in Missouri.I planted a score of trees on that farm.At first，they grew with astonishing rapidity.Then a sleet-storm encrusted each twig and branch with a heavy coating of ice.Instead of bowing gracefully to their burden，these trees proudly resisted and broke and split under the load—and had to be destroyed.They hadn’t learned the wisdom of the forests of the north.I have travelled hundreds of miles through the evergreen forests of Canada，yet I have never seen a spruce or a pine broken by sleet or ice.These evergreen forests know how to bend，how to bow down their branches，how to co-operate with the inevitable.
The masters of jujitsu teach their pupils to “bend like the willow；don’t resist like the oak.”
Why do you think your automobile tyres stand up on the road and take so much punishment？At first，the manufacturers tried to make a tyre that would resist the shocks of the road.It was soon cut to ribbons.Then they made a tyre that would absorb the shocks of the road.That tyre could “take it”.You and I will last longer，and enjoy smoother riding，if we learn to absorb the shocks and jolts along the rocky road of life.
What will happen to you and me if we resist the shocks of life instead of absorbing them？What will happen if we refuse to “bendlike the willow”and insist on resisting like the oak？The answer is easy.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 and retreat into a dream world of our own making，we will then be insane.
During the war，millions of frightened soldiers had either to accept the inevitable or break under the strain.To illustrate，let’s take the case of William H.Casselius，712676th Street，Glendale，New York.Here is a prize-winning talk he gave before one of my adult-education classes in New York：