The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-07-12
GETTING A START.
IF YOU ARE SURE.
BY NATHANIEL c. FOWLER, JR

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Analyze addresses and printed articles
as they run. and you will find that more
than half of them begin with positive
and definite statements, more or less
uncompromising. and that before they end
the speaker and writer apologize for
what they have said and retract. leaving
the hearer and the reader in doubt as to
whether there were really anythin, said
or written in the first place. They begin
boldly, and apparently fearlessy. and
then wholly or partially repudiate their
statements.
/ am not suggesting that one be over
positive. that he be definitely sure in all
cases, because the element of doubt per-
meates everything save accepted fact.
and even some of the accepted facts of
today are exploded tomorrow. l do say,
however. and most emphatically. if you
are sure Of a thing, and if you have
reached your decision through intelligent
research and experience hold to what you
know to he the truth. don't belittle it,
don't compromise. stand up boldly on
your own firing line and dare the enemy.
Although you should. as an intelligent
person, admit your own fallibility, you
have a right to be sure of some things:
there are facts. there are truths. there
are ideas which are accepted, and you
are warranted in feeling that they are
correct.
Better be positive when you have evil
dence that you are right than bubble
when Your doubts are only ina ginary
and when by SO doing you sacrifice
self-confidence.
The world needs more positive men,
men who have arrived at a conclusion
intelliGently and fairly, who stand by
the result of their research. feeling every
confidence In what they have discovered
and in what they believe to be true.
The 'guess-so" sort of fellow never
amounts to anything. He does not know
where he stands. nor does anybody else.
He is as variable as the summer breeze,
which blows your hat in one direction
and then in another. He is not founded
upon the rock Of permanency. He is
without self-respect and no one has any
confidence in what he says or what he
does
The man who hesitates is another
weaklng. He "hesitates and is lost"
He has no permanent foundation. He
is sort of will-o'-the- wisp. attached
to nothing and going nowhere.
Learn to know yourself. and. when
you know yourself. be sure of what you
know. Ground yourself in it and don't
allow anything but a storm OF fact to
Eelf-confidcnce, provided ii il founded
upon experience and is not over-adul-
terated with conceit, is one OF the funda-
mental elements OF success. Without 1t
one cannot reach his goal
Perhaps what you today consider a fact
with reason back of it. may not be a
fact tomorrow: but If you believe that
It is a fact. and IL intelligent others
agree with you. do not discard it until
proof against it reaches you. Then. like
a hroad-minded man, admit your error.
You should apologize and retract when
you are wrong. but the man who is al
ways apologiZing, always retracting. il
without reputation and amounts to moth
ing
Early in life you should. as far as pos
sible. study your possibilities-standard-
lie yourself. SO to speak. Possess some
definite ambition. and then work toward
il with you, entire energy. swerving
neither to the right nor to the left. unless
indisputable evidence tells you that you
are on the wrong track
Be definite. Have a settled and intelli-
gently conceived purpose. Know where
you stand. and stand firmly for what
you have decided is right, being always
open to conviction. but not allowing your
self to be pushed out of the path you
have chosen to travel by any influence
save that which il So strong that the
intelligence which chose the path for you
will change that path for another.
(Copyright, 1851