IN 1831, an American citizen went
into business. In 1832 his business failed, so he entered the field of
politics, but without any success in that sphere. He reverted to business in
1834, and was again a failure.
In 1841, he had a nervous breakdown.
Once recovered, he again entered the political arena, in the hope that his
party would nominate him as a candidate for Congress. His hopes were dashed,
however, when
his name failed to appear in the list
of candidates. The first chance he had to run for the Senate was in 1855, but
he was defeated in the election. In 1858, he once stood in the congressional
elections, and lost once again.
Once defeat is accepted, one is
immediately in a position to start life’s journey afresh.
The name of this repeatedly
unsuccessful person was Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). So great were his services
to his country that he is now known as the architect of modern America. How did
Abraham Lincoln manage to gain such a great reputation in American political
and national history? How did he win his way to such a high position? According
to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the secret behind his success was that “he knew
how to accept defeat”. This great secret of life is realism, and there is no
form of realism greater than accepting defeat. To do so is to acknowledge the
fact that, far from being ahead of others, one is behind them. In other words,
it is to know where one stands in life. Once defeat is accepted, one is
immediately in a position to start life’s journey afresh, for such a journey
can only commence from where one actually is; it cannot start from a point that
one has not yet reached.
Sometimes the words are easily said than done. Even when we know the things, but to be able to act upon the defeat requires lots of courage. To move on is always difficult, and to make it worse is to move against the will; coz life goes on without waiting for your consent. You can go with the flow or swim against it.
ReplyDeleteChoice is not always your's though.