The very stretching of the mind toward high ideals, the looking forward to the time when we shall be our own masters, working along the lines of a resolution, a fixed, irrevocable determination, has a strengthening, unifying influence upon all of the faculties, and you will be a stronger man or woman, whatever your future, if you keep steadily, persistently in mind your own individual declaration of independence.
It means freedom, it means delivery from restraint, from a certain feeling of slavery which attaches to every subordinate position.
I do not believe that it is possible for any one to reach the same magnitude of manhood or womanhood, to grow to the same stature, after giving up the struggle for absolute independence or the hope of going into a business or profession or something else all of one's own.
It is true that not every person has the executive ability or strength of mind, the qualities of leadership, the moral stamina, or the push to conduct a business successfully for himself and stand his ground.
There are also, many instances of young men who have others dependent upon them, and who are not in a position to take the risks of going into business for themselves.
A great many, however, work for others merely because they do not dare to take the risk of starting on their own responsibility.
They lack the courage to branch out. The fear of possible failure deters them. Moreover, a great many start as boys in certain occupations, work up to a fairly good salary, and, though, they may be ambitious to be independent, are yet held back by the distrust of their own powers and the advice of others, to "let well enough alone'," until the habit of doing the same thing year in and year out becomes so fixed that it is very difficult to wrench themselves out of their environment.
Again, a great many people prefer a small certainty to a big uncertainty. There is no disposition to hazard, no desire to take risks, in their make-up.
They do not want to assume large responsibilities. They prefer steady employment, and the certainty that every Saturday night they will find fixed sums in their pay envelopes, to the great risks, responsibilities and uncertainties of a business of their own.
You may not have the ambition, the desire or the inclination to take responsibility. You may prefer to have an easier life, and to let somebody else worry about the payment of notes and debts, the hard times, the dull seasons, and the panics.
But, if you expect to bring out the greatest possibilities in you, — if growth, with the largest possible expansion of your powers, is your goal, — you cannot realize your ambition in the fullest and completest sense while merely trying to carry out somebody else's program and letting him furnish the ideas.
There must be a sense of complete independence, not partial but complete, in order to reach the highest growth.
We do not attain our full stature of manhood or womanhood in captivity or in slavery, but in freedom, in absolute liberty. The eagle must be let out of the cage, no matter how large or how comfortable, before it can exhibit all the powers of an eagle.
It is the locked-up forces within, that lie deep in our natures, not those which are on the surface, that test our mettle.
It is within everybody's power to call out these hidden forces, to be somebody and to do something worth while in the world, and the man who does not do it is violating his sacred birthright.
Every man or woman who goes through the world with great continents of undiscovered possibilities locked up within him commits a sin against himself and that which borders on a crime against civilization.
Don't be afraid to trust yourself.
Have faith in your own ability, think along original lines. If there is anything in you, self-reliance will bring it out.
Whatever you do, cultivate a spirit of manly independence in doing it.
Let your work express yourself. Don't be a mere cog in a machine. Do your own thinking and carry out your own ideas, as far as possible, even though working for another.
"The Master Key System"
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