From these remarks it will be evident that, allowing only ordinary ability and opportunity, we may explain success mainly by one word and that word is WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!! Not transient and fitful effort, but patient, enduring, honest, unremitting and indefatigable work into which the whole heart is put, and which, in both temporal and spiritual affairs, is the true miracle worker. Everyone may avail himself of this marvelous power, if he will. There is no royal road to perfection. Certainly no one must wait for some kind of friend to put a springing board under his feet, upon which he may easily bound from the first round of their ladder onward and upward to its highest round. If he waits for this, he may wait long, and perhaps forever. He who does not think himself worth saving from poverty and ignorance by his own efforts, will hardly be thought worth the efforts of anybody else. The lesson taught at this point by human experience is simply this, that the man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down. This rule may appear somewhat harsh, but in its general application and operation it is wise, just and beneficent. I know of no other rule which can be substituted for it without bringing social chaos. Personal independence is a virtue and it is the soul out of which comes the sturdiest manhood. But there can be no independence without a large share of self-dependence, and this virtue cannot be bestowed. It must be developed from within. ~ Frederick Douglass The federal Labor Day holiday is described as a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. One of the greatest speeches ever given on the virtue of work came from Frederick Douglass, and the key points from his Self-Made Men presentation are presented here for reading and reflection. If you are interested in reading the entire speech, which is quite lengthy, you may find it here: frederick-douglass-heritage.org/self-made-men/ Happy Labor Day!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:46:59 +0000
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