SELF-CONFIDENCE 231thought of success, and attained it. Those who worked around him
could have done as well had they thought as he did.
Milo C. Jones of Wisconsin was stricken with paralysis a few years
ago. So bad was the stroke that he could not turn himself in bed or
move a muscle of his body. His physical body was useless, but there
was nothing wrong with his brain, so it began to function in earnest,
probably for the first time in its existence. Lying flat on his back in bed,
Mr. Jones made that brain create a definite purpose. That purpose was
prosaic and humble enough in nature, but it was definite and it was a
purpose, something that he had never known before.
His difinite purpose was to make pork sausage. Calling his family
around him, he told of his plans and began directing them in carrying
the plans into action. With nothing to aid him except a sound mind
and plenty of Self-Confidence, Milo C. Jones spread the name and
reputation of "Little Pig Sausage" all over the United States, and at the
same time accumulated a fortune.
All this was accomplished after paralysis had made it impossible
for him to work with his hands.
COMMENTARY
Many more modem examples can also be cited. There is a powerful disease called
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It affects
the nerves that control the muscles, causing them to waste away, bringing paraly-
sis and usually death in just a few short years. This condition afflicts the famous
physicist, Dr. Stephen Hawking, and has for more than two decades. Dr. Hawking's
body is severely limited, but his mind is not. He has taken his mind down incredible
roads where he explores the secrets of the universe, studying black holes, quantum
physics, even the very nature of time. Dr. Hawking's mind has unfolded to a previ-
ously unimagined degree because he made it his habit to develop it.
Peter Leonard seemed to have been dealt a tough hand in life. He had learn-
ing disabilities that made reading and writing very difficult. By the time he reached