greatest wisdom book

Chapter 21 Talent also needs to be cultivated 3
Great things can be achieved with knowledge and courage
Even a rabbit dares to stroke the beard of a dead lion.Courage, like love, is no joke; once it has yielded, it will yield again and again.Since the same difficulty must be overcome, it would be better to overcome it early on, so that in the future there will be no fear of similar dangers.However, there are still many people who say "brave" but are cowardly in action, so if you have courage and backbone, don't let your spirit become weak.Since you dare to think and speak, you must dare to act.

When a person faces insurmountable difficulties, as long as he still has the courage to challenge the difficulties, it means that he has not failed.The so-called failure before can be regarded as a valuable experience of success, which can create unexpected wealth.So when the guts are there and the bones are still there, you already have a chance to be invincible.

In 1865, the American Civil War ended.A reporter interviews Lincoln, and they have a conversation.

Reporter: "As far as I know, the last two presidents thought about abolishing serfdom, and the Emancipation Proclamation was drawn up as early as their time, but they didn't pick up a pen to sign it. May I ask Mr. President, Do they want to keep this great cause and let you achieve fame?"

Lincoln: "Maybe that's what it means. But I think they'd be very upset if they knew it took a little courage to pick up a pen."

Before the reporter had time to ask further questions, Lincoln's carriage set off. Therefore, the reporter never figured out what Lincoln meant by this sentence.

It wasn't until 1914, 50 years after Lincoln's death, that reporters found the answer in a letter Lincoln sent to a friend.In the letter, Lincoln talked about an experience in his childhood:
"My father had a farm in Seattle, and there were a lot of stones on the farm. Because of this, my father was able to buy it at a lower price. One day, my mother suggested that the stones be removed. My father said, if it can be moved , the owner will not sell it to us, they are small hills, all connected with the big mountains.

"One year, my father went to the city to buy horses, and my mother took us to work on the farm. My mother said, let's remove these things that are in the way, okay? So we started digging the stones. After a while, we put them away. because they were not the hills my father imagined, but solitary rocks that could be shaken by digging a foot down."

At the end of the letter, Lincoln said that some things people don't do because they think it is impossible, and many impossibilities only exist in people's imagination.People already have the ability to act, but in the face of obstacles, their spirits are inadvertently exhausted and their spines are lost.Misfortune in life often starts from lack of courage.

In the early 20th century, an Irish family wanted to immigrate to America.They were very poor, so they worked hard and lived frugally for more than three years, and finally saved enough money to buy a boat ticket to America.When they were taken below to their sleeping quarters, the family thought they would have to stay below for the entire voyage, and they did, surviving on the little bread and biscuits they had brought aboard.

Day after day, they watched with envious eyes the first-class passengers eating sumptuous meals on deck.Finally, as the ship was about to dock at Alice Island, one of the family's children fell ill.The father went to the waiter and said, "Please, sir, can I have some leftovers for my children?"

The service staff replied: "Why do you ask that? You can also eat these meals."

"Really?" said the man, "you mean we'll be able to eat well the whole voyage?"

"Of course!" the service staff said in a surprised tone, "During the entire voyage, these meals are also served to you and your family members. Your ticket only decides where you sleep, not where you eat."

Everyone has a lot of desires and a lot of assumptions, and it is these thoughts that lack courage that affect their choices.They are afraid to achieve what they think is impossible because of fear, so they also miss the opportunity to succeed.

Many successful people, if they retreated in fear of failure and gave up the opportunity to try in the face of "impossible" one by one, it would be impossible for the so-called success to come, and they would be ordinary.It is courage and boldness that make them dare to challenge themselves and their potentials again and again, and make up their minds to do it. In the end, they won an outstanding life.You must know that in the face of bravery, difficulties will retreat, and cowardice often makes difficulties worse.Perhaps courage may not always inspire greatness in human beings, but without strong mental abilities, human beings will always be reduced to mediocrity.

(End of this chapter)