Hello again
dear reader.
Today's
conversation is another one of those interesting little meditational excerpts
that I come across while digging through the remnants of forgotten libraries. Today's
excerpt is about hanging onto all of the small strands of hope and positive
will. Even when it doesn't seem like they're worth holding onto. This excerpt
is a perfect answer to my friend asking me "how do you manage to stay so
positive all the time?" I'm not saying it's always easy by any means, but
there is always something even on my worst day. That is worth hanging on to, so
hopefully the reader this little excerpt will help you contemplate how to
gather up and hang on to the strands of hope and positivity in your life.
From The Simple Life, 1903
By Charles Wagner
By Charles Wagner
In
its dreams, man’s ambition embraces vast limits, but it is rarely given us to
achieve great things, and even then, a quick and sure success always rests on a
groundwork of patient preparation. Fidelity in small things is at the base of
every great achievement. We too often forget this, and yet no truth needs more
to be kept in mind, particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the
crises of individual life. In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any scrap of
wreckage, saves us. On the tumbling waves of life, when everything seems
shattered to fragments, let us not forget that a single one of these poor bits
may become our plank of safety. To despise the remnants is demoralization.
You
a ruined man, or you are stricken by a great bereavement, or again, you see the
fruit of toilsome years perish before your eyes. You cannot rebuild your
fortune, raise the dead, recover your lost toil, and in the face of the
inevitable, your arms drop. Then you neglect to care for your person, to keep
your house, to guide your children. All this is pardonable, and how easy to
understand! But it is exceedingly dangerous. To fold one’s hands and let things
take their course, is to transform one evil into worse. You who think that you
have nothing left to lose, will by that very thought lose what you have. Gather
up the fragments that remain to you, and keep them with scrupulous care. In
good time this little that is yours will be your consolation. The effort made
will come to your relief, as the effort missed will turn against you. If
nothing but a branch is left for you to cling to, cling to that branch; and if
you stand alone in defense of a losing cause, do not throw down your arms to
join the rout. After the deluge a few survivors repeopled the earth. The future
sometimes rests in a single life as truly as life sometimes hangs by a thread.
For strength, go to history and Nature. From the long travail of both you will
learn that failure and fortune alike may come from the slightest cause, that it
is not wise to neglect detail, and, above all, that we must know how to wait
and to begin again.
In
speaking of simple duty I cannot help thinking of military life, and the
examples it offers to combatants in this great struggle. He would little
understand his soldier’s duty who, the army once beaten, should cease to brush
his garments, polish his rifle, and observe discipline. “But what would be the
use?” perhaps you ask. Are there not various fashions of being vanquished? Is
it an indifferent matter to add to defeat, discouragement, disorder, and
demoralization? No, it should never be forgotten that the least display of
energy in these terrible moments is a sign of life and hope. At once everybody
feels that all is not lost. During the disastrous retreat of 1813-1814, in the
heart of the winter, when it had become almost impossible to present any sort
of appearance, a general, I know not who, one morning presented himself to
Napoleon, in full dress and freshly shaven. Seeing him thus, in the midst of
the general demoralization, as elaborately attired as if for parade, the
Emperor said: My general, you are a brave man!
It's difficult to always have a positive attitude. I think we either have a positive or a negative disposition, and our reactions are based on that disposition. I tend to be a more positive person (half full rather than half empty). Some ways I try to stay positive in unhappy situations is to find at least one positive thing in which to rejoice each day. I try to counter negative comments with positive comments. And, most importantly, I try to keep the faith. I like Napoleon's style - he put forth his best efforts in a dismal situation, and therefore, built morale and confidence in his followers.
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