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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1925)
1 >«25 3 MAT » ,/ The ChemawaAmerican Printed at Chemawa, Vol. XXVI Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education Wednesday, April 22, 1925 THE RIGHT KIND OF SPIRIT A boy with grit and tenacity of purpose will never run away from school when something disagreeable or hard comes up. The right kind of a boy sticks and goes at it harder than ever to overcome whatever his trouble may be. One of the main reasons for having athletics at Chemawa is to develop grit and a tenacity to stick until you win. It is never the coward or the fellow with a yellow streak who wins. It is the kind of boys who won the wrestling match the other night— they exhibited the “grit” kind of spirit. If we devel op the right kind of never-say-die spirit and pluck at Chemawa we can win anything that comes our way. Always—yes always—when we go into a game, either boys or girls, with the winning spirit, we are success ful. Clear grit is always more than a match for any ob. stacle and has achieved all the great things in the world’s history. It is useless to try to discourage a person with bulldog tenacity of purpose. He cannot be disheartened. He laughs at pictures of danger, hardships, and obstacles in the way. Nothing daunts a person endowed with faith and determination. The secret of success in any project is not to be afraid of failure, and to plunge into the thing we have set our heart on with all of our might and enthusiasm, without even a thought of the possibility of failing, and should failure come, get up and at it again with more determination than before to fight until we win. Drudgery cannot disgust such people, labor does not worry them, hardships cannot discourage them; they will persist no matter what comes or goes, be cause persistence is a part of their nature. Have you, readers, ever seen a person who had no “give in” in him, who could never let go his grip whatever happened, who would come up smiling and with greater determination than before, to push ahead? Have you ever seen a person who did not know the meaning of the word “failure?” If you have you have seen a conqueror—a king among men. Tenacity of purpose is characteristic of all people who do things. They may lack some desirable traits, may possess a good many peculiarities and weaknesses, but the quality of sticking at a thing, clear grit, is never absent in a man or woman, boy or girl, who No. 27 does things worthwhile. Fearlessness, boldness, coupled with common sense, has ever been characteristic of great achieve! s. Peo ple who have no “dare” in their natures, who are afraid to take chances, who shrink from hardships, from responsiblity, must be content with small achievement. Students, grit has enabled many a poor boy and girl to pay their way through school and make a place for themselves in the world: it is more than a match for any handicap, it has won the great est battles in history. No substitute has ever yet been discovered for the ability to stick at a given thing—for staying qualities. The great questions are: Can you keep at it? Can you stick? Can you persevere after failure? Have you grit and backbone enough to hold on, stick and hang, in spite of everything? Boys and girls, if you have these qualities, though some of you may be stu pid in school, dull of comprehension, you will win out in the end. You are more likely to succeed if you possess tenacity of purpose, even though you lack in all other success-qualities, than if you possessed great brilliancy without it. The person we all admire is he who does not fall back in temporary defeat, but who gets up again and wrests triumph from defeat. After all, the real test is what we do after we fail. What will failure arouse in us? Will it discover in us new sources of power, double our determination, or will it dishearten us? How much is there left in you after you have apparently lost out? If you lie down then, boys, throw up the sponge, you are certainly not made of the right stuff. There are varying degrees of persist ency. Some boys and girls start out with enthusiasm and zeal, but turn their backs at the very first defeat, at the first rebuff they get after arrival at school, while hard knocks and iron conditions only make others fight the more. It calls out their reserve sticking power, makes them all the more resolute. For some students every hard place means to “give up,” but there is no “give up” in a boy or girl who comes to school with a purpose, who persists, who never is beat- (Continued on page 4)
