Be Strong

In life, whatever we do, we need courage. Ralph Waldo Emerson comments, “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you, you are wrong. There are always difficult times arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action, and follow it to an end, it requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs. Each has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to them.”

“FIGHTING-SPIRIT,” to quote the words of George Allen is what we all need. Gail Brook summons: “I do not ask to walk smooth paths nor bear an easy load. I pray for strength and fortitude to climb the rock strewn road. Give me such courage I can scale the hardest peaks alone, and transform every stumbling block into a stepping stone.”

There are always two sides of coin, so they say. If there are people who are courageous enough, there are also those who are coward. What’s the difference? “Courage and cowardice are antithetical,” points out Martin Luther King, “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward in spite of obstacles and frightening situations; cowardice is a submissive surrender to circumstance. Courage faces fear and thereby masters it; cowardice represses fear and thereby mastered it. Courageous people never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly people overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live. We must constantly build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

Source: Enhancing Reading and Thinking Skills of College Students