"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change," Buddha once said.
Oftentimes, life is compared to that of a rose. It has two compelling attributes: beautiful petals and unwanted thorns. "A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom," said a Chinese proverb.
"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose," poet Kahlil Gibran wrote. Tom Wilson, in a Ziggycomic strip, observed, "You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."
"But he that dares not grasp the thorn," Anne Bronte advices, "should never crave the rose." A Persian proverb said it in a different manner: "He who wants a rose must respect the thorn."
"The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses," Ovid reminded. If you don’t believe, ask any gardener. "He or she understands that the strongest and most productive plants aren’t grown in the hothouse but amid the harsh extremes of real life," explained the late Dr. Samuel Farina.
"People are a lot like plants. We bloom best when under stress. We rise to a challenge and grow stronger through adversity."
As a child, Mary Groda did not learn to read and write. American experts labeled her retarded. As an adolescent, she "earned" an additional label, "incorrigible," and was sentenced to two years in a reformatory.
It was here, ironically, in this closed-in place, that Mary – bending to the challenge to learn – worked at her task for as long as 16 hours a day. Her hard work paid off. She was awarded her high school diploma.
But more misfortune came her way. After leaving the reformatory, she got pregnant and was left alone to take care of the baby.
Then, two years later, a second pregnancy resulted in a stroke, erasing her hard-earned powers of reading and writing. Wit the help and support of her father, Mary battled back, regaining what she had lost.
In dire financial straits, Mary went on welfare. Finally, to make ends meet, she took in seven foster children. It was during this period that she started taking courses at a community college.
Upon completion of her course work, she applied to and was accepted by the Albany Medical School to study medicine.
This was what happened, according to a news dispatch released by theAssociated Press: "In the spring of 1984 in Oregon, Mary Groda Lewis – she’s married now – paraded in full academic regalia across the graduation stage.
No one can know what private thoughts went through Mary’s mind as she reached out to grasp this eloquent testimony to her self-belief and perseverance, her diploma that announced to all the world:
Here stands on this small point of Planet Earth a person who dared to dream the impossible dream, a person who confirms for all of us our human divineness. Here stands Mary Groda Lewis, M.D."
Life is a continuous struggle. Every single day, we have to face ups and downs. It may be shining today but you can never tell if it rains tomorrow. "Thorns and roses grow on the same tree," a Turkish proverb reminds.
Like marriage, life is not "a bed of roses," to quote the words of Robert Louis Stevenson. "If your life is not a bed of roses, then take heart," suggests Dr. Farina. "Find success and satisfaction in the midst of stress and struggle!"
"When the going gets tough, the weak get going," someone once said. That’s the basic root of failure – the inability to "tough it out." You should consider tough times as a way to prove yourself that you can make it no matter how.
Although Henri Matisse was nearly 28 years younger than Auguste Renoir, the two great French artists were dear friends and frequent companions.
When Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Matisse visited him frequently. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities.
One day, as Matisse watched his friend working in his studio, fighting tortuous pain with each brush stroke, he suggested, "Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?"
Renoir replied simply: "The beauty remains; the pain passes." And so, almost to his dying day, Renoir put paint to canvas. One of his most famous paintings, The Bathers, was completed just two years before his passing, 14 years after he was stricken by the disabling disease.
"But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats," said Paulo Coelho. No one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for."
In 1962, four young American women wanted to start a professional singing career. They started performing in their church and doing small concerts. Then came their time to cut a record. It was a flop.
Later, another record was recorded. The sales were a fiasco. The third, fourth, fifth and on through their ninth recordings were all failures.
Early in 1964, they were booked for The Dick Clark Show. He barely paid enough to meet expenses and no great contracts resulted from their national exposure.
Later that summer, they recorded "Where Did Our Love Go?" This song raced to the top of the charts, and Diana Ross and the Supreme gained national recognition and prominence as a musical sensation.
No matter what, don’t stop trying. Winners never quit; quitters never win. If you fail, try and try again. Until you will get there.
"It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures," Samuel Smiles pointed out. "Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done."
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