PLAYERS win, players lose, players prepare, players practise, players get hurt but players get up.
No matter what the outcome is, players keep playin..!. After years of hard work, Thomas Carlyl finished the manuscript of his book and gave it to a friend to read.
The friend’s housekeeper mistook the manuscript for trash and threw into the fire. When she got the news, Carlyl’s wife couldn’t hold back her tears.
His friend stood trembling, and Carlyl himself was speechless. Finally, with a display of remarkable courage and restraint he said, “Accidents like these happen.”
Although, outwardly Carlyl appeared courageous, he was devastated. He was unsure if he could continue with the project. He couldn’t sleep all night.
The next morning he resolved to start working on his book again. No matter what, he just could not give up.
Two years later, he had recreated and finished his great work, ‘The French Revolution,’ which remains to this day a living testimony to his indomitable spirit. Carlyle didn’t give up, he pursued his goal and won.
In my sitting room just right in front of where I sit and sip my morning cuppa, I have hung this poem, which I read when my spirits sag: When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low, and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don’t give up though the pace seems slow. You may succeed with another blow
. Success is failure turned inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, It’s when things seem worse, That you must not quit.
Close your eyes after you’ve read this piece and imagine you’re there when Carlyle hears his manuscript’s been thrown into the fire. See the despair on his face, feel his deep depression, the almost giving up look!
And then see his face as he holds in his hand the published book after two years. Feel his joy and sense the feeling of achievement. Slowly take Carlyle away and place yourself where he stands.
Don’t quit my dear friend and the same victory will be for you. Stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, it’s when things seem worse that you must never ever quit. You just gotta keep playin’ to win..!
