We may not think
we can, but we have inner resources that will see us
through if we only make use of them. We are
stronger than we think.
The
late Booth Tarkington had always believed that he could
take anything that life could force upon him except one
thing--blindness. Then when he was along in his
60's, he began losing his sight.
When
total darkness closed in, Tarkington said, "I found
I could take the loss of my eyesight, just as one can
take anything else. If I lost all five of
my sense, I know I could live on inside my mind.
For it is in the mind we see, and live."
Am
I advocating that we simply bow down to all
adversities? Not by a long shot! As long as
there is a chance that we can save a situation, let's
fight! But when common sense tells us that we are
up against something that cannot be otherwise, then, in
the name of our sanity, let's not pine for what is not.
Sarah
Bernhardt was an illustrious example of a woman who knew
how to cooperate with the inevitable. After half a
century as the reigning queen of the theater on four
continents, at 71 she found herself broke in
Paris. Worse than that, while crossing the
Atlantic, she had fallen during a storm and injured her
leg so severely that phlebitis developed. The pain
became so intense that the doctor finally concluded that
the leg must be amputated, but he was almost afraid to
tell the stormy, tempestuous Sarah what had to be done
for fear the news would set off an explosion of
hysteria. But he was wrong. Sarah looked at
him a moment, and said quietly, "If it has to be,
it has to be."
No
one has enough emotion and vigor to fight the inevitable
and, at the same time, enough left over to create a new
life. Choose one or the other. You can
either bend with the inevitable storms of life--or you
can resist them and break!
Why
do you think your automobile tires stand up on the road
and take so much punishment? At first,
manufacturers tried to make a tire that would resist the
shocks of the road. It was soon cut to
ribbons. Then they made a tire that would absorb
the shocks of the road. That tire could "take
it." You and I will last longer, and enjoy
smoother riding, if we learn to do the same.
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