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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1921)
I ¿ó. i 3 - MAY 8 The Chemawé^Aínerican OPY ^*r / n * e t* a t C h e m a w a , O r e g o n , a n d D e v o t e d to t h e I n t e r e s t s o f I n d i a n E d u c a t i o n Vol. X X III W ednesday, J a n u a r y 26, 1921 D EFEA T A N D F A IL U R E Boys and g irls, young and old, w hen th in g s go w rong w ith you, w hen you lose out in w hat you u n d ertak e, w hat is yo u r attitude? Do you give u p or push on m ore determ ined to win th a n ever? W e do not care so m uch about w hat you n g people achieve w hen ev ery th in g goes th e ir w av, w hen life is all sm ooth sailin g , but we do w ant to know w hat they do n ext ju si after they have had a serious setback in any u n d e rta k in g . Defeat and failure m ean very little to a resolute boy or g irl. Y ou can n o t conquer them . Y ou m ay knock them down, but they will rebound like a ru b b er ball th e g reater th e fall the g reater th e reb o u n d . O u r greatest glory is not in never failing, for ev ery body fads at tim es, b u t in risin g again every tim e we fail. I t is not the fall, but the failure to get up th a t is defeat. T o come up again and fight triu m p h from defeat; th a t is th e secret of success of every brave and noble y o u n g person who ever lived. M u ltitu d es of people can sta n d alm ost a n y th in g but reverses, ob stacles, difficulties. T hey get along sp len d id ly w hen every th in g ru n s sm oothly, when th in g s are easy, but w hen hard th in g s come up and tem p tatio n s assail them they are com pletely upset. T hey do not know how to meet em ergencies, or any crisis in th e ir daily lives, and they become discouraged and q u it. I t is the little, w eak, backboneless, nerveless fellow severy- w here who are the first to fall w hen an em ergency com es. Real w inners never show the w hite feather. T h e finest type of m anhood or w om anhood is never o ver w helm ed or en tirely dism ayed no m atter w hat comes. If th e plans or am bitions of a stu d e n t of th is ty p e are th w arted his sp irit rem ains u n d au n ted , his courage, his pow ers of resistance and self-confidence are u n dim inished and he sta rts in again. F ailu re, stu d e n ts, is th e final or acid test of persistence. I t eith er crushes the in d iv id u al or so solidifies his ch aracter th a t n o th in g can sta n d against his indom itable will. O bstacles nerve and stren g th en the stro n g , but paralyze the w eak. T h e w inning stu d en t know s th a t every honest, earnest endeavor, w hether it w ins out directly or no t, is a m ental and a m oral m uscle d e veloper, a pow er builder, a force producer w hich will help to win in later struggles. No. 16 T h e football gam e, w hether won or lost, is a devel oper for the e n tire school. It should m ake b etter players, enable th e stu d e n t body to give m ore loyalty to the team , so solidify sentim ent in favor of sta n d in g by our school th a t it may prove invincible in gam es to follow. It is not defeat th a t bothers us so m uch as th e fail ure to get up and go at it again w hich seem s to spell yellow . T h ere should not be a single stu d e n t w ith au g h t b u t sincere loyalty for this great In d ian school, and it should be not only in w ords b u t in action w ith every school u n d erta k in g . Some of the greatest living men have b u ilt th eir rep u ta tio n s on overcom ing defeats w hich have followed them all th e ir lives. T hese defeats would have been fatal to men or women m ade of less stern stuff, b u t the really stro n g person tu rn s ev ery th in g in to victory. If we are m ade of w in n in g m aterial all of our defeats will ultim ately w ork to our good— if n o t directly then in d irectly . T he p ersistent effort to win stre n g th e n s th e en tire character. T h e p articu lar th in g s w hich we do, the p articu lar efforts w hich we m ake, often seem to fail; b u t it is the perpetual stru g g le, th e everlasting try in g , th e constant p u sh in g ahead, th a t counts and develops m en and women of unconquerable sp irit. All tru e success is won by stru g g g lin g — ev ery th in g comes to those who stru g g le. If we stru g g le m anfully and push onw ard th in g s will finally come our way and we will be s u c cessful. It is said th a t defeat is n o th in g b u t th e first step tow ard som ething hig h er. It is pitiable to see so m any y o u n g men and women of superior qualities in cheap and lowly positions because th ey have not the education or tra in in g necessary for filling b etter or m ore h ig h ly paid places. It is trag ic w hen we re m em ber th a t the rem edy lies in th e ir own hands; th a t they play-havoc w ith th eir lives w hen a little e f fo rt and “ s tic k ” on th e ir p art m ig h t w ork a revo lution in th eir careers. No person is beaten u n til he releases his g rip on his aim in life. N o-one is beaten so long as he faces, and w orks, tow ard "his goal. W h eth er he reaches it m atters not. (Continued on page 4)
