Progress and Achievements of the Colored People / Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success

by Kelly Miller; Joseph R. Gay

DON’T GET DISCOURAGED

One of the greatest causes for failure in life is discouragement. It seems to be an element in the life of every man to be up one day and down the next.

When a man gets up it is possible for him to stay up by hard work and persistence, but if he permits himself to go down below his balance he may consider himself altogether down-and-out.

Failure does not mean that you will not succeed, because struggle as we may we must meet failure and look it squarely in the face.

But be not afraid of it, take hold of it by the throat and compel it to work to your advantage.

The lessons learned during the struggle toward success, and the ups and downs of the road are valuable and stand for experience. When a driver has gone over a hard road once, he knows the rocky portions and can avoid them when going over it again.

It is human to make mistakes. In fact, it is a maxim: “It is human to err.”

Knowing this to be inevitable, why repine, or be discouraged?

Follow the example of the small child who falls and picks himself up over and over again. By and by, he can walk without falling down.

Remember this: Every dark cloud has a silver lining. You see the dark side, but if you make your way around to the other side you will see the sun shining.

Much of the discouragement is caused by undertaking more than we can accomplish. If that is the case, then by leaving off a little here and there we shall soon reduce our enterprise to a success that we can handle.