You had to have heard it somewhere other than here. There’s no substitute for hard work. Many a bright, but lazy, person has failed, wallowed in failure, or suffered the plight of the self-pitying. And while the lazy seek scapegoats for failures, the hard worker plows the field of success.
So, how many times do we need to hear that one makes himself or herself successful? Well, here’s another. Ali Konyali, born in Germany to Turkish migrants, chose to research the pathways to success that other second-generation Turkish migrants took. Repeatedly, he encountered the same pathway, best summarized in this: “I come from an underprivileged environment, but I got to where I am by working really hard.” * The successful emphasized their own achievements.
There’s nothing new in hearing the successful lay the primary reason for their success at the altar of their own efforts. And there’s nothing new in encountering scapegoating as the reason the less successful lay at the altar of their failures or mediocrity.
Here’s some advice for the unmotivated. Every day, repeat the following line from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “The Windhover”:
“No wonder of it: Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.”
The plow overturns dry soil to reveal inner moisture that glistens in sunlight.
Say it again: “Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.”
And again.
And again.
You won’t hear that advice from those who advocate dependence on government programs or those who look for scapegoats to blame for failures. Go ahead. Say it again.
“Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.” **
*Koolen, Karin. An emphasis on individual achievements. Erasmus Alumni Magazine. Earsmus University Rotterdam. https://www.eur.nl/en/education/alumni/erasmus-alumni-magazine/emphasis-individual-achievements Accessed February 17, 2019
**If you are unfamiliar with the poem, you will find it here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44402/the-windhover Accessed February 17, 2019
Hopkins’s poem, dedicated to Christ, has both religious and non-religious meaning. My use of the poem, one of the most analyzed and debated poems in all of English literature, lies in my fascination with its last three lines. “Sillion” is the soil overturned by a plow.
So, how many times do we need to hear that one makes himself or herself successful? Well, here’s another. Ali Konyali, born in Germany to Turkish migrants, chose to research the pathways to success that other second-generation Turkish migrants took. Repeatedly, he encountered the same pathway, best summarized in this: “I come from an underprivileged environment, but I got to where I am by working really hard.” * The successful emphasized their own achievements.
There’s nothing new in hearing the successful lay the primary reason for their success at the altar of their own efforts. And there’s nothing new in encountering scapegoating as the reason the less successful lay at the altar of their failures or mediocrity.
Here’s some advice for the unmotivated. Every day, repeat the following line from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “The Windhover”:
“No wonder of it: Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.”
The plow overturns dry soil to reveal inner moisture that glistens in sunlight.
Say it again: “Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.”
And again.
And again.
You won’t hear that advice from those who advocate dependence on government programs or those who look for scapegoats to blame for failures. Go ahead. Say it again.
“Sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine.” **
*Koolen, Karin. An emphasis on individual achievements. Erasmus Alumni Magazine. Earsmus University Rotterdam. https://www.eur.nl/en/education/alumni/erasmus-alumni-magazine/emphasis-individual-achievements Accessed February 17, 2019
**If you are unfamiliar with the poem, you will find it here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44402/the-windhover Accessed February 17, 2019
Hopkins’s poem, dedicated to Christ, has both religious and non-religious meaning. My use of the poem, one of the most analyzed and debated poems in all of English literature, lies in my fascination with its last three lines. “Sillion” is the soil overturned by a plow.
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