Ch. 6, Learning to be Useful Summary and Analysis

Happiness is the goal in life. Part of this is the fact that people need to feel useful. It is easy and fatal to slip into self-absorption. Eleanor Roosevelt's mother's cousin lapses into self-pity after her husband's death. She pretends to be an invalid in order to procure the attention she desperately desires, but it does not lead to happiness. Everyone should be taught not to feel sorry for themselves and slough their burdens onto others. Eleanor Roosevelt shares the story of a young child staying at the White House who she taught this responsibility. Delinquency is surprisingly less proportionate among the poor because these children feel that they are needed by their family. Eleanor Roosevelt remembers an annual picnic she hosts for delinquent children; one child in particular drilled his name into...