PROFITING BY FAILURE 901Caesar had long wished to conquer the British. He quietly sailed
his soldier-laden ships to the British island, unloaded his troops and
supplies, then gave the order to burn all the ships. Calling his soldiers
about him, he said, "Now it is win or perish. We have no choice:'
And they won. People will usually win when they make up their
minds to do so.
Burn your bridges behind you and observe how well you work
when you know that you have no retreat.
A streetcar conductor got a leave of absence while he tried out
a position in a great commercial business. "If I do not succeed in
holding my new position;' he remarked to a friend, "I can always come
back to the old job:' At the end of the month he was back, completely
cured of all ambition to do anything except work on a streetcar. Had
he resigned instead of asking for a leave of absence he might have
made good in the new job.
Observe that everyone who travels the road of life carries a cross.
Remember, as you take inventory of your own burdens, that Nature's
richest gifts will go to those who meet failure without flinching or
whining.
Nature's ways are not easily understood. If they were, no one
could be tested for great responsibility-through failure.
In her poem entitled "When Nature Wants a Man," Angela
Morgan expressed a great truth in support of the theory set out
in this lesson on Profiting by Failure: that adversity and defeat are
generally blessings in disguise.
COMMENTARY
American journalist, author, poet, and lecturer Angela Morgan was born in
Yazoo County, Mississippi, in what she claimed was 1883 but biographers
think was likely closer to 1875.