The University of Hard KnocksParlette, Ralph Albert
Philosophy
The University of Hard Knocks
Parlette, Ralph Albert
Character; Conduct of life; Success
It was the sweet girl graduate who at commencement wondered how one
small head could contain it all. It was Newton after giving the world a
new science who looked back over it and said, "I seem to have been only
a boy playing on the seashore * * * while the great ocean of truth lay
all undiscovered before me." That great ocean is before us all.
The Widow's Mites
The great Teacher pointed to the widow who cast her two mites into the
treasury, and then to the rich men who had cast in much more. "This
poor widow hath cast in more than they all. For all these have of their
abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath
cast in all the living that she had."
Tho the rich men had cast in more, yet it was only a part of their
possessions. The widow cast in less, but it was all she had. The Master
cared little what the footings of the money were in the treasury. That
is not why we give. We give to become great. The widow had given
all--had completely overcome her selfishness and fear of want.
Becoming great is overcoming our selfishness and fear. He that saveth
his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life for the advancement
of the kingdom of happiness on earth shall find it great and glorified.
Our greatness therefore does not depend upon how much we give or upon
what we do, whether peeling potatoes or ruling a nation, but upon the
percentage of our output to our resources. Upon doing with our might
what our hands find to do. Quit worrying about what you cannot get to
do. Rejoice in doing the things you can get to do. And as you are
faithful over a few things you go up to be ruler over many.
The world says some of us have golden gifts and some have copper gifts.
But when we cast them all into the treasury of right service, there is
an alchemy that transmutes every gift into gold. Every work is drudgery
when done selfishly. Every work becomes golden when done in a golden
manner.
Finding the Great People
I do not know who fitted the boards into the floor I stand upon. I do
not know all the great people who may come and stand upon this floor.
But I do know that the one who made the floor--and the one who sweeps
it--is just as great as anybody in the world who may come and stand
upon it, if each be doing his work with the same love, faithfulness and
capability.
We have to look farther than the "Who's Who" and Dun and Bradstreet to
make a roster of the great people of a community. You will find the
community heart in the precious handful who believe that the service of
God is the service of man.
The great people of the community serve and sacrifice for a better
tomorrow. They are the faithful few who get behind the churches, the
schools, the lyceum and chautauqua, and all the other movements that go
upward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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