Someone has said "A
friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I
am". Accepting this as one definition of the word,
may I quickly suggest that we are something less than
a real friend if we leave a person the same way we find
him.
No greater reward can come to any of us as we serve than
a sincere "thank you for being my friend".
When those who need assistance find their way back through
and with us, it is friendship in action. When the weak
are made strong and the strong are made stronger through
our lives, friendship is real.
If a man can be judged by his friends, he can also be
measured by their heights. Yes, a friend is a person who
is willing to take me the way I am but who is willing
to leave me better than he found me.
I often wonder what it is
that brings one man success in life, and what it is that
brings mediocrity or failure to his brother. The difference
can't be in mental capacity; there is not the difference
in our mentalities indicated by the difference in performance.
In short, I have reached the conclusion that some men
succeed because they may claim ambition and a desire to
succeed, are unwilling to pay the price.
And the price is...
To use all your courage to force yourself to concentrate
on the problem in hand, to think of it deeply and constantly,
to study it from all angles, and to plan.
To have a high and sustained determination to put over
what you plan to accomplish, not if circumstances be favorable
to its accomplishment, but in spite of all adverse circumstances
which may arise and nothing worthwhile has ever been accomplished
without some obstacles having been overcome.
To refuse to believe that there are any circumstances
sufficiently strong to defeat you in the accomplishment
of your purpose.
Hard? I should say so. That's why so many men never attempt
to acquire success, answer the siren call of the rut and
remain on the beaten paths that are for beaten men. Nothing
worthwhile has ever been achieved without constant endeavor,
some pain and constant application of the lash of ambition.
That's the price of success as I see it. And I believe
every man should ask himself: Am I willing to endure the
pain of this struggle for the comforts and the rewards
and the glory that go with achievement? Or shall I accept
the uneasy and inadequate contentment that comes with
mediocrity? Am I willing to pay the Price of Success?
by Joseph French Johnson
founder Alexander Hamilton Institute
