IN SPITE OF CRITICS

June 10, 2008 at 10:22 pm (Making A Difference)
Tags: Barbara Streisand, Charles Darwin, Conrad Hilton, George Washington, Leonard Bernstein, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Winston Churchill

MAKING A DIFFERENCE, IN SPITE OF THE CRITICS

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When Winston Churchill was a young man, his father concluded that Winston was unfit for a career in law or politics because he did so badly in school. 

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Barbara Streisand’s mother told her she wasn’t pretty enough to be an actress and she could never become a singer because her voice wasn’t good enough. 

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Conrad Hilton, who created a business empire with his Hilton Hotels, once overheard his father say to his mother, “Mary, I do not know what will become of Connie. I’m afraid he’ll never amount to anything.”

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When Charles Darwin was getting ready to set sail on his five-year expedition on the Beagle, his father was extremely disappointed. He thought his son was drifting into a life of sin and idleness.

[Note: In his later years Charles Darwin recanted his theory of evolution, and fully embraced the Bible as the true word of God… including the biblical account of creation.] 

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George Washington’s mother was a harping, complaining, self-centered woman by all accounts. She belittled Washington’s accomplishments and didn’t show up at either of his presidential inaugurations. She was always whining that her children neglected her, and she was especially enraged when her son George ran off to command the army for the American Revolution. She honestly believed it was his duty to stay home and take care of her. 

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In his youth, the late Leonard Bernstein, one of the most talented and successful composers in American history, was continually pressured by his father to give up his music and do something worthwhile, like help out in his family’s beauty-supply business. After Leonard became famous, his father was asked about that, and he answered, “Well how was I supposed to know he was THE Leonard Bernstein!” 

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People may criticize you or make fun of your ideas or actively try to stop you. Often their efforts are only attempts to protect you from failure. But failure is only fatal if you stop. If you keep going, a failure is just another learning experience. And besides, giving up on a heartfelt aspiration is worse than failing. “Many people die,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes, “with their music still in them.” That’s true tragedy. 

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So listen politely to the worries and criticisms of your friends and family, and do your best to put their minds at ease, but then carry on. Listen lastly to your own heart.  You know yourself better than anyone on earth. Make sure your song is sung.

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Editors Note:
Consider this – What if these people would have let their critics remarks destroy their hopes, dreams, ambitions? We can agree that the world would be forever changed if these people had not fulfilled their destined roles (God given assignments in life).

How many times have you let critiicism defeat you, destroy your dreams and crush your potential? When we give in to these destructice forces, lives and events may well be forever changed because we did not fulfill our destined role. Hmmm…

Then, here is the Challenge…

Next time you feel like giving up when others are critical and negative and do not see the God given worth in you, or do not understand the God given dream in you …. just remember, you have a destiny to fulfill, and God gave you that assignment for a purpose. Only you can fulfill this assignment, exactly as it is supposed to be, for the right eternal outcome. It may not seem like something great or world changing. and maybe it isn’t. But every time we do something that makes a difference, even to one life, it counts!