Analyzing Character, page 230 by Katherine M.H. Blackford
<< Return to Title Details & Download231
ds and see how short they are.
There are vocations for all who have the courage, the ambition, the willingness to work, the persistence to keep ever-lastingly at it. Finding one's true vocation in life means, not finding an easy way to success, but finding an opportunity to work and work hard at something interesting, something you can do well, and something in which your highest and best talents will find an opportunity for their fullest expression.
Just as finding an unusual talent for music means years and years of the most careful study and preparation, followed by incessant practice; just as finding of a talent for the law means years of work in schools, colleges and universities; so the finding of a talent for business, mechanics, science, construction, or any other vocation involves years of study, self-development, preparation, and practice, if you are to achieve a worth-while success.
A HARD-LUCK STORY
The following incident illustrates plainly enough the mental attitude of the average fellow--the reason why he has failed, and the remedy:
A man came into our office complaining of his luck.
He was on the gray and wrinkled side of the half-century mark, somewhat bent, and slow of step.
This was the tune of his dirge:
"My life is a failure. I have never had a chance. My father was poor and couldn't give me the advantages that other young men had. So I've had my nose on the grindstone all my life long.
"See what I am to-day. While other men have made money and, at my age, are well fixed, I am dependent on my little old Saturday night envelope to keep me from starving. That wouldn't be so bad, but my employers are beginning to hint that I'm not so lively as I was once and that a younger man would fill the job better. It's only a question of time when I'll be a leading member of the Down and Out Club. Then it'll be the Bay for mine."
Our friend, whom we call Mr. Socratic, butted into the conversation right here.
"Pretty tough luck!" he