March 18, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Working Hard.

One day, a friend asked my son David this question; "Why do you work so hard?" His first response was to note that everyone works hard and he did not think that he worked harder than anyone, but in discussing the topic with me later that evening, he realized that he only observed very hard working people all his life. Working hard was what every member of our family was expected to do. He expected to work hard and he expects his children to work and play hard too. In other words, a person probably learns their pattern of work from their Family. The problem comes when the Family does not work hard for achievement and spends all their time watching TV, any individual member has a much harder time breaking out of the zone of lethargy.

Getting ahead or raising above a persons station in life is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Some people can do it and some people can not, and I have thought long and hard about the topic. But I do know a few things that are required and one of the qualities is hard work. Another is high intellect. You have to figure out what you want, then how you are going to get yourself there, then delay the gratification every step of the way. Definitely, hard work is a major component of success. Once I had a difficult time trying to explain to Abigail, when she was six, what being lazy was all about. A friend's Mother commented that another lady was lazy, because she never helps out at school and her house is always a mess. "She is just lazy," said the Mother. Well Abigail comes from a Family of workers so she could not grasp the whole concept of lazy and I had trouble describing it to her. She already has grasped the concept of hard work. And this is a good thing.