There is no escaping the burdens of life be-
cause, indeed, they are a part of life, itself. Our joy in
living the brief span of time allotted us, is in our attitude
toward our burdens, in the very manner in which we
accept and carry them.
We might learn our lesson from those hardy
souls who, throughout history, have been forced in slavery
or servitude, to handle physical burdens almost beyond
endurance. We think of those muscled oarsmen who pulled
the oars of ancient ships when there was no wind to fill
the sails. And the Negro slaves who pulled the barges
along the Mississippi before Robert Fulton's steamboats
plied the waterways and spared their backs for bales of
cotton. And, we remember, because of their stirring
song, the Volga boatmen.
What did they do when their physical burdens
became almost unbearable?
Theysangl
So, once again, we come to that omnipotent
word (which, no matter how hard your author tries to
avoid repetition, still keeps recurring) ... ACCEPTANCEI
No matter what burdens life places upon you,
or you choose to carry for someone else-accept them...
and sing!
It is a psychological fact-which was known
to the ancients long before there were psychologists-that
if you accept your burdens with the attitude of progressing
forward, with a song on your lips, or at least in your heart,
then your burdens become, by some miracle of nature,