Ideals for Earnest Youth: The Will to Work and Win

          In most cases "I can't" means "I don't want to," or "I don't care to expend the necessary energy"; in other words "I am too lazy to try." The young person who has this attitutde will never succeed until he changes it to "I can, and I will." When you do this you have the battle half won. All that is needed then is to go ahead and do the thing planned. "I can't get that problem"; "I can't pass that examination"; "I can't graduate this term"; "I can't let cigarets alone"; "I can't stay away from the dance." What a weakling you are--mostly in your mind; and being that in mind you will soon be a weakling in every fiber of our system.
          There are multitudes of people weakly longing for success but not willing to pay the price. Jesus says to "strive" to enter in, for many will "seek" to enter in and not be able. There is about the same difference between "striving" and "seeking" that there is between "willing" and "wishing."
          Your resolute will, your firm determination, will go a long way toward carrying you upstream, no matter how strong the current. But if your will is weak and faltering and your determination wavering you will float down stream; and the stream is dammed with the multitudes of human derelicts who have not had enough vim or power to force their way upstream.
          You may have great ability naturally, yet if you lack the will to work and win you are doomed to failure. In this day of sharp competition only those who throw the weight of their whole being into their vocation will get up in life. No youth is started right in life until he feels that it is up to himself alone to make good; until he hs got over the idea that somebody must give him a lift before he can get a start.
          The world is full of young men and women who are waiting to be pushed, "boosted," helped. They spend too much time talking about what they would have done if they had only had a chance. There are thousands doomed to failure while they wait for their chance. There are other thousands in the seminaries, colleges, and universities who are there and will graduate because they have the faith to believe they can; and they are willing to work in harmony with that faith.
          Recently I called for a student in a theological seminary and was told that I would find him in the basement in the boiler room. I found him there. I said to him: "Oh, this is your study-room? A pretty hard way to get through school, isn't it?" His quick reply was, "I'm mighty glad I have this way of getting through." That is the will to work and win.
          One of the worst misfortunes that can befall a young person is to be relieved of the necessity of helping himself. With a few exceptions a pampered youth becomes a pigmy; and who wants to be a pigmy? Training in self-help and self-reliance are just as essential for any career as the technical knowledge gained in school.
          It is push, energy, virility of character, tenacity of purpose, clear grit, and will-power that make things happen. We must use the means that we have to accomplish our ends.
          Marden says: "That door ahead of you (you who are grumbling that you can't force an entrance), is probably closed because you have closed it--closed it by lack of training; by lack of ambition, energy, and push. While you have been waiting for someone else to give you the key to open it, a pluckier, grittier fellow has stepped in ahead of you and opened it himself. Power gravitates to the determined man."