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An eagle’s only obstacle to overcome for flying with greater speed and ease is the air. Yet, if the air were withdrawn and the proud bird were to fly in a vacuum, it would fall instantly to the ground, unable to fly at all. The very element that offers resistance to flying is at the same time the condition for flight. The main obstacle that a powerboat has to overcome is the water against the propeller, yet if it were not for this same resistance, the boat would not move at all. The same law, that obstacles are conditions of success, holds true in human life. A life free of all obstacles and difficulties would reduce all possibilities and powers to zero. Dolly Parton sums it all up with these words, "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain." ----------------------------- In the South of the old US, when cotton was "king," the boll weevil bug crossed over from Mexico to the United States and destroyed the cotton plants. Farmers were forced to grow a variety of crops, such as soybeans and peanuts. They learned to use their land to raise cattle, hogs and chickens. As a result, many more farmers became prosperous than in the days when the only crop grown was cotton. The people of Enterprise, Alabama, were so grateful for what had occurred that in 1910 they erected a monument to the boll weevil. When they turned from the single-crop system to diversified farming, they became wealthier. The inscription on the monument reads: "In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done to herald prosperity." We all have a tendency all of our lives to want to get rid of problems and responsibilities. When that temptation arises, remember the youth who was questioning a lonely old man. "What is life’s heaviest burden?" he asked. The old fellow answered sadly, "Having nothing to carry." --------------------------- People need to change their perspectives, not their problems. A situation only becomes a problem if one does not have sufficient resources to meet it. If you can’t do something about a problem, it’s either because you’re playing by the rules or it’s not your problem, it’s a fact of life. There is a world of difference between a person who has a big problem and a person who makes a problem big. If you try to help the latter fix their problems, they will only go out and find others. Their problems are not their real problems. The problem is that they react wrongly to "problems" and therefore make their "problems" real problems. What really counts is not what happens TO me but what happens IN me. A study of 300 highly successful people, people like Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer and Mahatma Gandhi reveals that one fourth had handicaps, such as blindness, deafness, or crippled limbs. Three-fourths had either been born in poverty, came from broken homes, or at least came from exceedingly tense or disturbed situations. Whey did the achievers overcome problems while thousands are overwhelmed by theirs? They refused to hold on to the common excuses for failure. They turned their stumbling blocks into stepping stones. They realized they could not determine every circumstance in life but they could determine their choice of attitude toward every circumstance. Problems can stop you temporarily. You are the only one who can do it permanently.
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