Ethics USA

March 7, 2013

Proverbs and maxims

Failure is the path of least persistence.
ContentAll things will come round to him who will but wait. (Longfellow)
Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
Work hard and give it your best shot; never be a quitter. (Charley Taylor)

More quotes on perseverance

Victory belongs to the most persevering. (Napoleon Bonaparte)
Hitch your wagon to a star. (Emerson)
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage to a man. (Euripides)
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try. (Beverly Sills)
Many strokes overthrow the tallest trees. (John Lyly)

People who persevered despite handicaps and disabilities

Heroes and heroines

Susan B. Anthony was a women’s rights activist who spent her entire life working for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.
Marie Curie was a physicist who published 32 scientific papers and continued to study sources of radioactivity over many years.
Amelia Earhart became famous as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and as an advocate of aviation and women’s rights.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a great American female athlete who excelled in many sports.
Benjamin Franklin was a leading scientist, inventor, publisher, and politician whose persistence, patience, and hard work paid off. He is on our $100 bill.
Wilma Randolph was an Olympics Gold medalist in track who was not able to walk properly as a child.
El Chino was the first Chinese matador in Spain.
Martin Luther King, Jr. worked very hard to lead the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. He withstoodprejudice and resistance to change.

Put perseverance into action

When something starts to bother you, wait as long as you can before you express frustration.
When something doesn’t work right, try again and again.
Don’t lose your temper when something upsets you.
Always finish what you start.
Keep working at something that is difficult until you complete it.
Don’t give up on difficult jobs or situations.
Focus on someone or something that ordinarily makes you lose your patience and try to understand it (and don’t “lose it”).
Work a little harder or a few minutes longer on a task that you do not like.

Community service ideas

Volunteer to work in the library, at a nature center, or in an animal shelter doing tasks that require a great deal of patience and persistence.
Organize a campaign to promote good study habits in your school.
Help with the recycling project at your school and community.

Not so cool ways to cope

Cool ways to cope

Activities

Write in your journal about difficult situations and how you handled them without giving up.
Write a poem about suffering, what you can learn from it, how to face it, how not to hurt others, or anything else about obstacles.
Collect stories, poems, diaries, or quotations by writers about persistence.
Brainstorm cures for “the blues.”
Learn what Galileo (a famous astronomer) or other scientist endured with opposition faced during his or her lifetime.
Find out what help is there for people who face difficult situations – counselors, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, therapists.
Create a skit that shows what to do when disaster strikes.
Explore the healing power of music.
Explore the healing power of exercise.
Explore the healing power of pets.
Put some extra effort into a project that is difficult and try to improve your skill (like public speaking or learning a dance).

– Gene Bedley

Code for the Road