| Finding the Way |
Chapter 11 |
Page 2 |
This is a good motto for life in general. To many people shrink from anything that is hard. They want only easy tasks. They fear to grapple with difficulties. They run away from hard battles. They attempt nothing they know they cannot do easily. They never grow into strength, for only in attempting hard things can one gain the ability to do things noble and beautiful. The habit of giving up easily is a fatal one. It weakens the will, paralyzes the energy, and stunts the growth of the life. What a man thinks he cannot do, he cannot do; but what he thinks he can do, he can do. The true man is he who can do things that are impossible – anybody can do possible things.
Our answer to every call of duty should be, “I am able.” Whatever we ought to do, we can do. “I cannot” is a stunting, dwarfing word. Besides, it is a cowardly word. When we say it we do not know what we are missing. We allow magnificent possibilities to pass by and pass out of our reach, because we think we cannot achieve them. One of Emerson’s poems pictures the days marching on in endless file, bringing gifts in their hands for us, who miss them because of our poor timidity and indolence.
“Daughters of time, the hypocritical Days,
Muffles and dumb like barefoot dervishes,
And marching single in an endless file,
Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.
To each they offer gifts after his will,
Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.
I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes, hastily
Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day
Turned and departed silent. I, too late,
Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.”
The poet’s picture is true of too many. The days come with great gifts in their hands – kingdoms, stars, sky, and diadems; we take a few herbs and apples, and let the messengers move on and vanish, still holding in their hands the splendid gifts which might have been ours. Many go through life missing countless opportunities for noble deeds and worthy achievements, only answering to their call, “I cannot.”
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