Never Give Up

• The memo from the testing director of MGM, shortly after Fred Astaire’s first screen test, said “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
• Thomas Edison’s first teacher described him as “. . . addled and too stupid to do anything.” His father almost convinced him he was a dunce.
• “He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation,” according to an “expert” coach about a young coach named Vince Lombardi.
• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for “lack of ideas.” He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
• Before he succeeded, Henry Ford failed and went broke five times.
• Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress.
• Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him “hopeless as a composer.”
• Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s 10,000-word story about a soaring seagull. By 1975, Jonathan Livingston Seagull had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.
• Winston Churchill seemed so dull as a youth that his father thought he might be incapable of earning a living in England.
• Charles Darwin did so poorly in school that his father once told him, “You will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.”
• Albert Einstein’s didn't talk until he was three years old. From elementary school through college, his teachers and professors thought him lazy, sloppy, and insubordinate. He performed so badly in all high school courses except mathematics that a teacher asked him to drop out. Many of his teachers thought he would never amount to anything.

This morning we were visitors in a church in Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina. The minister quoted many of these fun facts. I was not able to remember all of the details. Afterwards, I easily found the facts on the Internet.

Later, a friend said she was having trouble with her computer. So I thought that for today’s gift, I’d help solve her computer problems. I changed some settings on her computer, showed her how to save and send pictures and then gave her guidance on programs she was using. She really appreciated my help. I told her it was really nothing; especially since it was from someone who was told in elementary school that she was “below average,” but who, like the stories above, never gave up.

There are a lot of lessons to be gleaned from experiences like this. Persistence, passion, and practice are all common themes for anyone who ever works to learn a skill. Never giving up is another.

What I thought would be today’s gift, assisting my friend with her computer problems, turned out to be the gift of gratitude that she gave to me! I received a warm feeling from her just for doing what is easy for me. Thanks Joanne for giving me the opportunity to help.

In Giving,

Robin