INTERNET GRANDFATHER®

Surrender

                                       I've been hearing the word "surrender" a lot lately; for example, it came up in connection with the impending requirement that a celebrity surrender herself to serve a 45-day jail sentence. According to my dictionary, to surrender is to yield or to give up. While we do hear people speak of surrendering to something positive, such as surrendering to love, normally to surrender is a negative thing. When we speak of surrender, we normally mean giving up our efforts to achieve something positive. I have a hard time thinking of surrender in a positive light.

                                                We've previously identified the steps to achievement: Identify a goal, determine how to achieve the goal, including identifying the sub-goals that form the path to the goal, work as hard as necessary to do everything leading to the goal. Sometimes we have a tough time dividing up the ultimate goal into its smaller, more manageable parts, sometimes we don't have the skill to do one of the parts and we must seek assistance, sometimes we even have to modify a goal. As long as the goal is worthwhile it doesn't matter how long it takes us, how many detours we must take, whether or not we seek assistance; we simply tenaciously proceed towards our goal. But we must never surrender, we must never give up.

                                                 If we want to achieve anything, if we want to succeed at anything, we must keep trying. If we can recognize and live up to this simple truth, the thought of surrender will never enter our minds. We will stand firm no matter what obstacles we face, no matter how difficult our challenges. So long as we keep trying, we can never fail.

5-7-07