One day a group of Galilean people wanted to carry a sick friend to
Jesus to be healed. He was in a house, and when they came near they found
such a crowd about the doors and windows that they could not get in. Not
to be defeated in their purpose, they cut an opening through the roof and
let the sick man, bed and all, down to where the Great Physician was.
Of course, the result was that the afflicted person received the gift of a
whole body as the reward for their insistent attitude. The story is simply
another version of the value of importunity in seeking the gifts of the
Great Helper.
This story of the long ago indicates one of the great principles of life,
and one which has played a part in the activities and struggles of every
age. It suggests that one may at any time have to reckon with handicaps,
but that there is usually a way to overcome them if one has the will to
seek and follow that way. There is something highly admirable about the
spirit of this group of people who, when they could not accomplish their
desire in one way, promptly found another in which they could
accomplish it.
The Scriptures say a good many things by implication which they do not say
in exactly so many words. It is said that in an experience meeting in
which the attendants fell to quoting favorite passages of Scripture, an
old lady arose and stated that of all the beautiful and helpful Scripture
texts in which she had found strength and comfort, her favorite was this:
“Grin and bear it.” The Bible does not contain such a text, but it does
contain such a teaching, and the old lady was not so far wrong after all.
This Scripture story of the sick man and his friends suggests another
adage of the world, which has expression at least by implication in the
Scriptures. The Bible does not contain such a text as: “Where there’s a
will there’s a way,” yet such is the exact teaching implied in the story
outlined above.
Along whatever way one’s path may happen to lie, and whatever may be the
task which he undertakes to perform, his life would be utterly unnatural
if it were devoid of difficulties. A life without handicaps would be no
more natural than a summer without showers or a year without a winter.
It is not even desirable that one should live without encountering more or
less resistance to his efforts to realize his best and highest hopes.
Furthermore, these difficulties are often unforeseen. They cannot be
calculated, but they must be allowed for. At the beginning of the carrying
out of any enterprise, the proper thing to do is to reckon one’s resources
and to count the cost. At the beginning of any journey, the barriers in
the way must be a calculation in the plan. At the outset of any endeavor,
one must realize that not every part of his task will be altogether easy.
If it were, the finished product would hardly be worth while, and
certainly the toiler himself would not have benefited largely from his
labor. Difficulties, expected and unexpected, are as certain to come as is
the succession of the days and nights.
Life is frequently likened to a race. It is true that it is a progress
toward a goal, and that in it there are many who are contending against
each other for what they look upon as a victory. Life is not a race,
however, in which every element of the situation is ideal for every
runner. It is only in dreams where such perfect conditions may be found.
In the hard facts of life it is otherwise. In the real race each
contestant has at least some odds against him.
Life, then, is a race in which each runner is hampered with a handicap.
Each situation presents some difficulty, and occasionally the most
brilliant of successes is made in spite of this hindrance. The ideal race
would not be one without handicaps. It is rather one in which a man plays
his part well in spite of handicaps. The ideal victory is not that which
is won because the contestant had everything in his favor. It is rather
the one which is gained in spite of the odds which the contestant had
against him.
Homer and Milton were blind, yet each won for himself a secure place among
the world’s small group of immortal poets. It would have been easy for
either to have made his affliction an excuse for failure. Instead, each
made his handicap an added reason for success. Each learned to glimpse a
glory which is hidden to most who are blessed with faultless vision.
Demosthenes was born with a faulty utterance and with a hollow chest.
Nevertheless, he conceived a great desire to be an orator. Most men would
have found their physical unfitness a sufficient handicap to discourage
them from any effort. Demosthenes determined to overcome the hindrances
which had been born with him. He sought a remote and secluded place,
shaved his head in order that he might not soon venture back among his
friends, and exercised his voice and body until the weakness of both had
been overcome. All the world is familiar with the final results of
his efforts.
On the day when Demosthenes was uttering the amazing words which so
tellingly advocated his right to receive a crown at the hands of his
fellow citizens, the explanation of his achievement did not lie in his
birth. It lay rather in the fact that he had willed to overcome the
limitations with which nature had surrounded him. It is true that he had
seized a psychological moment, but he was able to seize that moment
because he had not feared the long period of painstaking effort which had
been necessary to overcome his handicaps. The secret of his success was
not opportunity, but toil. He had merely refused to surrender to the
forces which would have destroyed the usefulness of many men. His triumph
was but the result of a task patiently performed in spite of
its difficulty.
During the last century, Spain produced a remarkable artist in the person
of Daniel Vierge. He attained eminence in his work while still a young
man. At the early age of thirty, however, he suffered complete paralysis
of the right side. It would have been easy to have admitted that his work
with the brush and pencil was done, and to have resigned himself to what
seemed to be a hard fate. Such was not his spirit, however. He had no
intention of relinquishing the tools of his art. He still had the use of
his left arm, and he determined that it should be trained to possess the
power which the other had lost.
The long and tedious period of training had to be gone through again. He
accomplished his task, however, and in spite of the difficulty which he
had encountered he learned to draw nearly as well with his left hand as
he had ever been able to do with the other. By making the most of the one
resource which was left to him, he managed to retain his place in the
front rank of his profession as an illustrator. The work which he produced
after his affliction can scarcely be distinguished in quality from his
earlier efforts.
Dr. Holmes once said that the best way to live long is to become afflicted
with some serious disease. What he meant was that such an affliction
sometimes teaches people the care of their bodies, when enduring health
would leave them utterly careless of the essential laws of well-being. It
does sometimes happen that, even in this regard, a handicap is found to be
a helpful thing. There are cases on record which tell the story of renewed
effort to cultivate health and strength, when life was rapidly slipping
away, and of the crowning of that effort with success, health, and
long life.
The old story of the hare and the tortoise is re-enacted daily in modern
life. The battle does not always go to the strong, nor is victory in the
race the inevitable portion of the swift. The winner is more apt to be the
patient toiler who has chosen a purpose, and who struggles in the
direction of his goal in spite of handicaps. His progress may not always
be swift, but it is at least continuous.