Be yourself.Act on the sage advice that Irving Berlin gave the late George Gershwin.When Berlin and Gershwin first met，Berlin was famous but Gershwin was a struggling young composer working for thirty-five dollars a week in Tin Pan Alley.Berlin，impressed by Gershwin’s ability，offered Gershwin a job as his musical secretary at almost three times the salary he was then getting.“But don’t take the job，”Berlin advised.“If you do，you may develop into a second-rate Berlin.But if you insist on being yourself，some day you’ll become a first-rate Gershwin.”
Gershwin heeded that warning and slowly transformed himselfinto one of the significant American composer of his generation.
Charlie Chaplin，Will Rogers，Mary Margaret McBride，Gene Autry，and millions of others had to learn the lesson I am trying to hammer home in this chapter.They had to learn the hard way—just as I did.
When Charlie Chaplin first started making films，the director of the pictures insisted on Chaplin’s imitating a popular German comedian of that day.Charlie Chaplin got nowhere until he acted himself.Bob Hope had a similar experience：spent years in a singing-and-dancing act—and got nowhere until he began to wisecrack and be himself.Will Rogers twirled a rope in vaudeville for years without saying a word.He got nowhere until he discovered his unique gift for humour and began to talk as he twirled his rope.
When Mary Margaret McBride first went on the air，she tried to be an Irish comedian and failed.When she tried to be just what she was—a plain country girl from Missouri—she became one of the most popular radio stars in New York.
When Gene Autry tried to get rid of his Texas accent and dressed like city boys and claimed he was from New York，people merely laughed behind his back.But when he started twanging his banjo and singing cowboy ballads，Gene Autry started out on a career that made him the world’s most popular cowboy both in pictures and on the radio.
You are something new in this world.Be glad of it.Make the most of what nature gave you.In the last analysis，all art is autobiographical.You can sing only what you are.You can paint only what you are.You must be what your experiences，your environment，and your heredity have made you.For better or for worse，you must cultivate your own little garden.For better or for worse，you must play your own little instrument in the orchestra of life.
As Emerson said in his essay on “Self-Reliance”：“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance；that imitation is suicide；that he must take himself for better，for worse，as his portion；that though the wideuniverse is full of good，no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till.The power which resides in him is new in nature，and none but he knows what that is which he can do，nor does he know until he has tried.”
That is the way Emerson said it.But here is the way a poet—the late Douglas Malloch—said it：
If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill.
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill；Be a bush，if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a bush，be a bit of the grass.
And some highway happier make；
If you can’t be a muskie，then just be a bass—But the liveliest bass in the lake！
We can’t all be captains，we’ve got to be crew.
There’s something for all of us here.There’s big work to do and there’s lesser to doAnd the task we must do is the near.
If you can’t be a highway，then just be a trail，If you can’t be the sun，be a star；It isn’t by the size that you win or you fail—Be the best of whatever you are！
To cultivate a mental attitude that will bring us peace and freedom from worry，here is Rule 5：
Let’s not imitate others.Let’s find ourselves and be ourselves.
Chapter 47
If You Have A Lemon，Make A Lemonade
While writing this book，I dropped in one day at the University of Chicago and asked the Chancellor，Robert Maynard Hutchins，how he kept from worrying.He replied：“I have always tried to follow a bit of advice given me by the late Julius Rosenwald，President of Sears，Roebuck and Company：‘When you have a lemon，make lemonade.’”
That is what a great educator does.But the fool does the exact opposite.If he finds that life has handed him a lemon，he gives up and says：“I’m beaten.It is fate.I haven’t got a chance.”Then he proceeds to rail against the world and indulge in an orgy of self-pity.But when the wise man is handed a lemon，he says：“What lesson can I learn from this misfortune？How can I improve my situation？How can I turn this lemon into a lemonade？”
After spending a lifetime studying people and their hidden reserves of power，the great psychologist，Alfred Adler，declared that one of the wonder-filled characteristics of human beings is “their power to turn a minus into a plus.”
Here is an interesting and stimulating story of a woman I know who did just that.Her name is Thelma Thompson，and she lives in New York City.
“During the war，”she said，as she told me of her experience，“during the war，my husband was stationed at an Army training camp near the Mojave Desert，in New Mexico.I went to live there in order to be near him.I hated the place.I loathed it.I had never before been so miserable.My husband was ordered out onmaneuvers in the Mojave Desert，and I was left in a tiny shack alone.The heat was unbearable—125degrees in the shade of a cactus.Not a soul to talk to but Mexicans and Indians，and they couldn’t speak English.The wind blew incessantly，and all the food I ate，and the very air I breathed，were filled with sand，sand，sand！
“I was so utterly wretched，so sorry for myself，that I wrote to my parents.I told them I was giving up and coming back home.I said I couldn’t stand it one minute longer.I would rather be in jail！My father answered my letter with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my memory-two lines that completely altered my life：