Carving Out Our Success

One of the fallacies common in the thinking of man is that his failure to succeed or to obtain happiness is the result of the circumstances in which his life is cast.

We do not like to think of failure as being a result of our own weakness, faults, or inadequacies. It hurts our pride to admit, even to ourselves, that it is not life, or fate, or to a large extent any of the forces outside of us, but rather our own shortcomings that defeat us.

It is true that man may be handicapped by hereditary or environmental factors over the making of which he had no control. A family background of poverty, lack of education, absence of social standing, prevalence of low ideals and moral standards, place obstacles in the course of development that are difficult to overcome. So, too, is it hard to rise above such personal impediments such as sickness, poor training and education, lack of opportunities, and insufficient money. Financial and social occurrences such as depressions and wars also seriously hinder him.

But the significant thing is that many men overcome these obstructions, and rise to a glorious success and happiness. And it is only reasonable to assume that if some men can do this, then it must be within the power of the human being, as such, to shape the ups and downs of his life to his own ends, and to rise to victory through his difficulties, or in spite of them.

Students have long realized that it is not circumstances or obstacles that defeat a person, but that it is rather how he approached them and reacts to them. If he faces them with an attitude of defeatism, and permits them to control him, his failure is inevitable. If, on the other hand, he meets them with courage, and fortitude, and with the determination to conquer them and to rise above them, he may be confident of success.

In the eternal plan he is intended to be the master of his life. But he must gain mastery through his will to control the circumstances which surround him, regardless of how adverse they may be. Defeat or failure is what happens if he allows these conditions to master him.

No, it is not our fathers, or grandfathers, or great grandfathers and mothers, and their weaknesses and sins that defeat us. It is not our background, or our poverty, or lack of opportunity. It is we, who do it to ourselves! 

-Catholic Quote. Vol. 81, No. 7