Tenacity is What Makes Heroes

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” –Thomas Edison

Take the case of John Paul Jones an American war hero who faced an obvious defeat at sea during the American war of independence. Surrounded by the Royal Navy, with his ship listing, he was outmanned, outgunned and outmaneuvered. Faced with this grim situation, he is reported to have responded when called upon to surrender, “I have not yet begun to fight.” He fought on and won and became another American folk hero.

Shortly before the Falklands war with Argentina in 1982, the then British Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher was asked by a journalist what will happen in case of failure. At this time, the British task-force was already half-way across the Atlantic on its way to war. Mrs. Thatcher replied, “Failure? Remember what Queen Victoria once said, failure? The possibility does not exist.” History records that the British defeated the Argentines within three months and retained the effective control of the disputed Islands.

 

Why It Pays to Shun Greed

“Make yourself an honest man and then you may be sure there is one rascal less in the world.” –Thomas Carlyle

People do unethical things more out of greed than anything else. It is because of greed that people cut corners, cheat and generally do things that demean their persons and put their businesses in jeopardy. Greed makes people shun ethics, bend the truth, take undue and unnecessary risks for instant gratification. It is greed that lures people into gambling and many other negative vices. Remember the parable of the straw that broke the camel’s back? That is what greed does to the greedy. The following story best illustrates the danger of excessive greed.

“A wealthy farmer was once offered all the land he could walk on in a day provided he returned by sundown to the point at which he started. To get a head start, early the next morning, the farmer started covering ground quickly because he wanted to get as much land as he could. Even though he was tired, he kept going all afternoon because he didn’t want to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain more wealth. Late in the afternoon, he remembered that the condition he had to fulfill to get the land was to get back to the starting point by sundown. His greed had gotten him far from the starting point. He started his return journey, keeping an eye on how close he was to sundown. The closer it got to sundown, the faster he ran. He was exhausted and out of breath and he pushed himself beyond the point of endurance. He collapsed upon reaching the starting point and died. He did make it before sundown. He was buried and all the land he needed was a small plot.” Adapted from Shiv Khera, “You can Win”

Let me add that even though this farmer was already wealthy before this extremely greedy adventure, no portion of his wealth followed him into the grave.