“Man should attempt, and striving should err” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
MAKING A REAL EFFORT ALMOST ALWAYS MEANS WE WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But the likelihood (and even the chance) of stumbling will not be essentially an argument for standing nonetheless. Errors however, it usually makes numerous sense to maintain striving.
Athletes know the distinction between “enjoying to win” and “enjoying to keep away from dropping.” The previous is a give-it-all-we’ve-got drive, whereas the latter is only a defensive posture, a sport plan with no larger objective than the avoidance of errors. But in life, as on the enjoying discipline, the conservative angle that at all times performs it secure isn’t the one which achieves nice outcomes, and most of us understand that there’s extra honor in striving and erring than in not striving in any respect. “Much better it’s to dare mighty issues, to win wonderful triumphs, although checkered by failure, than to take rank with these poor spirits who neither take pleasure in a lot nor endure a lot as a result of they reside within the grey twilight that is aware of not victory nor defeat” (Theodore Roosevelt).
The phrase “strife,” nonetheless, can have a nasty connotation, and so we ought to think about whether or not our striving is the great variety. We want to ensure of two issues: (1) our ways are honorable, and (2) our objectives are price combating to attain. Bertrand de Jouvenel requested the pertinent query when he mentioned, “Yr by 12 months we have gotten higher geared up to perform the issues we’re striving for. However what are we really striving for?” Lest we turn into so preoccupied with the wrestle that we neglect what the wrestle is about, we have to overview our objectives continuously and improve them every time needed.
Some individuals appear to assume that the much less ache and issue they expertise, the happier they are going to be, and they also by no means do something besides take the trail of least resistance, the highway that shall be best. For them, the principle factor in life is to keep away from unpleasantness. But there’s an irony to human life, and it consists in the truth that tranquil issues like peace and pleasure come not from relaxation however from wrestle. The glad life will not be the lifetime of fixed leisure; it’s the lifetime of conscience-driven labor towards a virtuous objective. What we wish will not be the lifetime of leisure; it’s the lifetime of “strife” . . . within the good sense!
There’s life alone in obligation accomplished,
And relaxation alone in striving.
(John Greenleaf Whittier)
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
