Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-01-18
CONCERNING AMBITION.
WHY Man should strive to the Utmost &
Attain Excellence.

Why Man should Strive to tho utmost to
Attain Excellence.
No condition OF mind mas been more
soundly rated than ambition; all the
bad adiectives in the dictionary have
been flung ut it. But the man who is
without ambition will soon be elbowed
and iostled aside In tho race for life.
1t may be that he will be content to be
outstrippod, and If his contentment
proceed from philosophy and not from
Incidence he is scarcely to be pitied.
"Discontent," says Walter Besant,
..hurts no Young man, unless 1t is &C
companied by laziness, when n Is the
devil"
Ambition, of course, stimulates to
more strenuous and persistent effort;
but it by no means follows that the
result of the effort is in itself bene-
fcial to mankind. Take the ambitious
politician, whose thin mask of patriot
ism covers but does not conceal his
longing for the power and patronage
which office carries with it; OF what
possible advantage can his patient
watching and waiting, his obsequious
fetching and carrying, his alternate
trucking and clustering. be to the
commonwealth Nay, what incalcu-
liable injury does it not work. as we'll
to the State as to the individualP On
the other hand, worthy ambition,
legitimately pursued, may indirectly
confer the greatest benefits both on
the community and on the aspirant
himself.
should define healthy ambition as
being an eager desire for such pro-
fessional or social advancement as is
reasonably and fairly to be hoped for
in the scope of mans ordinary avo-
cation, having due regard to the range
of his capacities. Alferi, the greatest
of modern Italian poets, had the
strange ambition of being the best
runner in Italy. One of the drolles,
of our English comedians is known tc
cherish an ardent desire to play
Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. These
should call diseased ambitions.
Nv notion is that man should strive
to the utmost to attain excellence and
good repute in his occupation, what
ever it be, and that not until that is
achieved should he allow himself tC
turn aside to other pursuits. For in
stance, say that you are shoemaker
you feel that you have soul above
leather; but you do not give up your
shoemaking until you have earned the
name of being frst-rate shoemaker
BY that time you will probably have
found that even shoemaking has its
charms; but if you are then still dis
contented shoemaker, you will have
won the right to seek for fame and
reputation in some other pursuit
do not say, let not the shoemaker &C
beyond his last, but let him at any rate
stick to his last until he is the king O.
cobblers.
TO sum up, I advocate healthy
generous ambition-that is to say, the
desire and the will to reach, by fail
and honest means, the highest posi-
ton that is attainable in ones occupa
ton. Nor. if you find your sphere too
cramped, would | dissuade you from
beginning the world anew in some
more promising and congenial pur
suit. But unhealthy ambition, pas
sion for success in one line simply be
cause from lack of energy you have
failed in another, distinctly depre
cate; and immoral ambition, which
either justilies the means by the end
or processes cynical Indifference a.
to whether the means are just or I'm
just, is of course to be unreservedl,
condemned. Notes for Bous.