“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” —Calvin Coolidge
World Changing requires tenacity at the individual and at the group level. Bringing about justice, freedom, human rights, sustainability is never simple. Progress in any given arena takes time—usually years or decades.
We all know Aesop’s fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare. The hare sprints off quickly. Soon he’s so far ahead, and over confident, that he stops to take a nap, only to wake and see the tortoise crossing the finish line. Slow and steady wins the race. Of course, it’s not the slow part that wins but the steady. The tortoise was tireless, steadfast, determined.
The hare is that part in us that rolls with instant gratification. The tortoise is delayed gratification, the part that understands the value of steadily moving toward a long-term goal. It’s what we do every day, consistently plugging away, that makes a difference.
In 2008 historian and activist Howard Zinn was interviewed on NPR’s Here and Now:
We shouldn’t be discouraged, because we should think back—and that’s where history comes in handy—to all those times people were discouraged, but they persisted and they won. The anti-slavery movement was tiny. How in the world were they going to do away with slavery? But they persisted and persisted, and a great movement grew. We have to get used to the idea that there’s no simple one-ending solution when suddenly everything is okay. We have to get used to the fact that life is a struggle to make things better and better. You win, you lose, you win, you lose. You mustn’t give up. If you give up, you’ll always lose. And if you persist, you have a chance.
Illustration: Jean Grandville.
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