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Carolyn Smagalski
Persistence
Founder - Editor - Host
My son asked me today, "How long does it take to get famous?
How long does it take a musician, for example, to become
famous?"
I replied, "Until."
He asked, "Until when?"
"Until he becomes famous. He must never give up."
We talked about how people with a dream keep working toward
that dream. That most people give up on their dreams before
they ever achieve them. That it gets too hard sometimes.
That in the tough times, they lose sight of the thing they
want most.
Albert Einstein, brilliant genius that he was, said most
emphatically, "I know quite certainly that I myself have no
special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance,
combined with self-criticism have brought me to my ideas."
You may be criticized for your dreams. But they are
YOURS. It is your life, to do with as you
choose. No one can be wrong all the time. Even a clock that
has stopped running is right twice a day. If your dreams,
your goals, are just that "twice a day flicker of light," with
endurance you are still moving forward. That is nobler than
the other 100 who have given up entirely.
Persistence - continuous endurance - will win out over any
lack of experience or talent. If you doubt me, look at the
scores of people who moved ahead in their careers, despite
their lack of talent or experience. People who were given
honorary degrees from colleges, like Napoleon Hill and Nido
Qubein and Bill Cosby. People who were not blessed with
melodic voices, but succeeded as singers anyway, like Bob
Dylan and Eminem. People who forged their own path, like Bill
Gates and Steve Zuckerman.
"I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I
am today what I established yesterday or some previous day,"
wrote James Joyce. Your life becomes a patchwork of your
enduring spirit.
My son actually knows this. He is one of those enduring
spirits. A truck hit him two years ago. Despite the odds
that predicted he would not survive, he has conquered the
odds, and is becoming Master of his life.
At seventeen, he is still totally unaware of the inspiration
that he gives to others…the awe and respect that he stirs in
most people…the extraordinary story that he has to tell. He
is my hero. Someday, he will understand what that really
means.
There are those who do not recognize his power of endurance
and inspiration - small-minded members of the community who
recognize his "difference" but do not know his story. Those
whose sense of importance is anchored in passing judgment,
rather than giving hope. With time, my patience, and my
efforts to educate them about tolerance for those with
challenges in their lives, their judgments will change.
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best
day and night to make you everybody else, means to fight the
hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop
fighting." Inspiring words by E.E. Cummings. I believe they
were written for us all.
Content copyright © 2003-2008 by Carolyn Smagalski. All rights
reserved. This content was written by Carolyn Smagalski.
If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need
written permission.
Contact Carolyn Smagalski
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