Perseverance

What separates the men from the boys, so to speak? Women from girls? What distinguishes cowardice from bravery?  We hear all the time that people who do heroic things think of themselves as afraid. So what stands in their stead? Backbone? That’s what my mother called it. And we all know people who don’t have it and those that do. It’s obvious. Desire for it fuels the international obsession with heroes. We can’t get enough of heroic stories of heroic deeds; legends; films of figures so adept and fearless that we watch in awe and admiration.

 

So how does one get it? This backbone thing. Is one born with it? Are we taught? Do we model after watching others? Clearly we model everything else, from copycat killing to fashion. If that were the case, wouldn’t we have a nation of Jason Bournes? Tom Cruises? We don’t, do we.

 

How does one keep on in the face of lethargy, fogginess, lack of motivation or just plain fear? Sometimes I think backbone is simply perseverance; not giving up. It’s the thing that keeps us striving. Georgia O’Keeffe said that she was terrified every single moment of her life but never let it keep her from doing a single thing she wanted to do. So very hard to persevere. So necessary.

 

 

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
                                                                               -Harriet Beecher Stowe