 In spite of what the graduation speakers every spring, our town's pretty average. That goes for our senior class, too. Out of this class of 40, just because it is average, two of these boys and girls will spend some part of their lives in a mental institution. My job is to try to keep the people around here healthy, and most of them are. Of course, nobody's ever perfect. Jim Anderson has a bad ear. That doesn't keep him from playing on the football team. County champions last year, too. Frank White is nearsighted, but his glasses take care of that. Dorothy Westerly has a tooth that needs fixing, but she's in good health, I'd say. Mighty good health. They've all learned habits of good living that have helped them stay physically healthy. Habits of cleanliness, good diet, exercise, and rest. But there's another side to good health, and that's good mental health. It comes naturally to most people. Parents who are mentally healthy bring up the children to be mentally healthy, too. Take Tommy Clark there. He learned the first rule for good mental health a long time ago. Now, when he works up ahead of steam, he puts it to work in a useful way instead of holding it inside. When you try to do that, it's bound to come out in some unpleasant way. Tommy learned that some years back, just after his younger brother was born. Come on, Jimmy. Come on. Tommy, eat your meat. You haven't eaten a bite all day. I declare, I don't know what's got into you. You heard your mother, Thomas. Now do as she says. Finally, his folks sent him to see me. There wasn't anything physically wrong with him that I could find, so I began to talk with him. If you've got something on your mind, Tommy, why don't you talk about it? Well, well, I... We all have our problems, Tommy. I can talk about it. Of course you can. And you know something? The more you talk about your problems, the easier they are to solve. It's bottling things up inside this bed. When you feel something, if you're mad, or afraid or worried, you've got to let it out or it'll come out some other way. Like you losing weight and not sleeping. Now, what is it, son? Gosh, Dr. Martins, this may sound kind of funny to you. No, no, what won't? I don't think my folks want me anymore. They're planning to get rid of me. What makes you think that, son? I heard them say so one night. They thought I was asleep. Ever since Jimmy was born, they... Well, it wasn't easy to prove to Tommy that he was wrong. As in so many cases like this, his parents were partly to blame. The new baby was taking more of their attention than they realized. I got a chance to talk to Tommy's mother about it, and it turned out that... they'd been talking about sending Tommy to camp for the summer and he misunderstood them. Well, we finally got it straightened out. But it taught Tommy a lesson that many people don't learn so quickly about not buckling up his emotions. He learned that it could be easy to talk to his folks and that he didn't have to hide his love for them. Good night, Mom. Good night, Tommy. Well, that is quite a few years ago. Tom's graduating today. That number one rule for good mental health don't bottle up your emotions as helped him through many a tough spot. Of course, we're talking about some of the simple rules for staying in good mental health, and that brings us to the second rule, which is respecting yourself. Sounds easy, doesn't it? But look what happened to Bruce Matthews. He went out for the tennis team a couple of years ago and while he had a lot to learn, he had the makings of a fine player, but he wasn't satisfied with slow, steady improvement. Oh, he expected himself to be perfect right from the start. Missing a point would make him boil over at himself. Well, the coach finally called on to what Bruce was doing to himself with his demand for perfection. Sure, I think it's fine to keep wanting to improve. I understand that, but I think you're going out the wrong way. How do you mean? Well, did you ever stop to think how good your game really is? Yeah, after missing that last point. That's just what I'm getting at. You're worrying too much about the game and you don't enjoy it. But, gee, coach, I know I can do better. Sure you can, but the point is you shouldn't let yourself get mad every time you miss a point. Even the world's champion can't make every point. You can't be perfect. You've got to learn to get more pleasure out of this game. So take yourself as you are and instead of expecting yourself to be perfect. It took a while for Bruce to get what the coach was driving at. But little by little, without letting up one bit on trying to improve his game, he learned to enjoy his skill rather than fret over his occasional misses. Yes, he's learning that second important habit for keeping in good health. Good mental health, I mean. The habit of feeling right about himself. Along with that goes a third important habit, feeling right about other people too. That means getting along with others, having fun with them, being part of the group. There's no room for bashfulness in good mental health. To look at Otto Markle there, you'd never guess what he was like a year ago. For some reason or other, he was convinced that people just didn't like him much. He never tried to make friends or to be one of the bunch. It was Miss Reiner who came to Otto's rescue. I think you'd enjoy getting into one of the school clubs. I don't know. I really don't have any time. I hear they're planning to organize a camera club. You could help with that. I'm not very good with my camera. I don't think they'd want me in the club. Of course they would. The more the better when you're organizing a club. Gosh, Miss Reiner. You're certainly doing well in chemistry. And that's important in photography. I don't know. Chemistry's different from photography. I think you'll find they'd welcome a good chemist like you in a camera club. But you'll have to do one thing. What's that? Offer to help. Do all you can to help get the club organized. Get some other students to join. Oh, I couldn't do that. Of course you can. And you'll find that they are like you as much as you like them. I do about Otto's problem because his parents had come to see me about the same thing. Of course. They had to share the responsibility for Otto's bashfulness. What do you mean, George? I don't quite get what you're driving in. No, well, I'll tell you, Art. I've been watching you with that kid a long time. You're demanding too much from him. Nobody can be perfect, so don't ride him so hard. When he does something you don't like, remember he's a person in his own right. His way may be just as good as your way. I do think you've been hard on him at times, Arthur. Oh, but he doesn't toe the line the way he should. He has advantages I never had when I was a boy. He has an opportunity to amount to something. But let him do it his own way. You've got him feeling now he isn't as good as the next fellow. That's why he has the taste to make friends. In Otto's case, as in many others I've known, talking with the parents was important in helping to get things straightened out. He's learning the third basic rule for good mental health, feeling right about other people. That means that in any normal group of people, there is a feeling of give and take. There's an interest in the group as a whole. There's no distrust or dislike of others just because they happen to be different. Well, there's one more rule for good mental health. And I see that Nancy's finally learned it well enough to get a diploma. That's the habit of doing something about a problem as soon as it comes up. Gosh, what I don't know about the Civil War period. I haven't cracked a page in two weeks. I'm going to have to dig into this one, too. Come on over to my house tonight. Let's study it together. Oh, I just dread getting into it. Let's put it off till tomorrow. Well, I'm all right. Tomorrow never came for Nancy's quiz day found her completely unprepared. But Barbara had faced up to that quiz the day it was announced. Oh, Jayvon, don't worry about this exam. I just can't sleep. Oh, I hope I passed. There's no point in worrying about it now. Nancy not only had double trouble with that quiz, she had triple trouble or during and after. She'd got busy just as soon as it was announced instead of just worrying about it. It would have been a lot easier for her. Yes, the people around here are learning some of the basic rules for staying in good mental health. First rule is, don't bustle up your emotions like love, fear, anger, express them naturally. Of course, emotions like anger have to be expressed with consideration for others. Of all, don't carry a grudge. Get it off your chest. Second rule is to respect your own abilities. Always try to improve, but remember that you're human. The third rule is to respect others. Treat them as friends. And finally, when a problem shows up, face it at once calmly, reasonably, and honestly. And remember that one of the best rules for good mental health is talking out your troubles and problems with someone whose opinion you respect, your parents, your family doctor, your school teacher, or advisor. Your clergyman may be the right person to talk to on many things. Whoever it may be, talking is one of the best tonics there is for good mental health. Another good tonic is an interesting hobby. It gives you a way to relax, chance to accomplish something you can be proud of. Well, those are some of the rules for staying in good mental health. Of course, they're just the ABCs of a subject thinking of to fill whole libraries. But as more and more folks get to know these ABCs and follow them, they're going to be able to look at a group like this someday and feel that they have a greater chance than ever for the kind of happy, useful life which will make our world a better place to live in.