The Chemawa American
Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to the / iter eats of Indian Education
» 3 MAY a
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Vol. XXVII
Wednesday, October 38, 16&PY -1956] No. 6
THE PRICE OF PROGRESS
How often we hear some boy or girl say that it is
impossible to learn anything; no use going to school;
cannot understand arithmetic, and so on. Occasional
ly a boy requests permission to be an all-day worker
and give up accademic studies altogether. This arti
cle may be over the heads of a good many of our stu
dents, but the subject of using your God-given powers
is so important, and the possibilities locked up in each
one of you students is so tremendous that we hope
that you will get our idea in the main, as presented.
All through life, young friends, we are constantly
surprised by revelations, new glimpses of ourselves,
which prove that wre have been using only a part of
our forces, often a very small part, because of our ignor
ance of the great possibilities locked up within us.
Many is the man or woman, who, when unexpected
ly thrust into positions of responsibility, developed
splendid qualities which they had never previously
utilized. They did not even know that they possessed
them.
The truth is that the majority of us are virtually
strangers to ourselves. We know much less of our
selves than we do of those about us. The great
majority of us never find our highest, most potent, self.
If every one ot our young men and women could be
awakened to their possibilities, to the potencies that
are latent in each of them, so rapid would be the
advance, so marvelous would be the change, that a
wonderful transformation w’ould take place and as
tound themselves as well as all who know them. Dig
down into yourself; there is where you will fihd the
the power. Most of us look outside instead of inside
for our motor force.
Since time began the human race has been hunting
for help to bear its misfortunes, to improve conditions,
but ever seeking relief from without. We are just be
ginning to learn that the help that we have been cry
ing for, and looking for, is inside and not outside of
us. The power to obtain anything we need or can
ever want is within us aw’aiting release, opportunity
for expression.
Many of you may honestly believe that you are do
ing your level best in your work, that you are using
every bit of energy and to the best possible advantage.
But if some great additional motive for exertion should
come into your lives today you would astonish your
selves and those wrho know you by the undreamed-of
strength and added ability you would develop to meet
the occasion. We all need to be aroused, to be awak
ened to a knowledge of the working powers locked up
within each of us. The first step toward living a real
life is self-discovery, for no matter how great are one’s
dormant possibilities we cannot use any more than wre
have discovered.
As we understand it, the real problem is how best
to show’ youth its possibilities, how to arouse latent
energies, how to give the boy and girl a picture of the
highest possible self, how to stimulate growth and
development. The real education is evolution, call
ing out what is in the mind, developing it, exercising
the mental faculties until they become vigorous and
strong enough to seize, to grip and to hold. The educa
tor who by encouragement and inspiration leads youth
to self-discovery is the greatest of all educators.
You will never make your life count for much until
you at least try to find yourself. In order to do this
you should put yourself in the most favorable position
possible for self-discovery; you should, if possible,
keep close to people who have succeeded in a large way
along the line of your anjljition. Contact with strong,
forceful personalities is a great help to self-discovery.
Our sprinters when training for a track meet make
better time when running w’ith another. The deter
mination to keep up, or get a little ahead, is thus
stimulated. Two boys running neck and neck will
make better time than either could alone, because each
stimulates, urges and inspires the other.
All through life you will come across ambition -
arousers, character-moulders, and if you are eager to
follow the lead they give you, you cannot avoid being
benefitted. So we say, if possible, get into an ambition
arousing environment. You will find that it will stir
you to redouble your efforts, will awaken your slum
bering powers, and spur you on to renewed endeavor.
The constant effort to better our best, to reach a
high ideal, calls out the finest and noblest qualities in
our natures. If we w’ere looking for an employe and
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