Roger Harty: Courage II – To Thine Own Self Be True

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rsz_roger_hartyPOLONIUS:

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

This is a quote from Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ and it is the advice that Polonius gave to his son Laertes as he hurried off to Paris.

It was the final piece of advice that a father gave to his son. It basically translates as – trust your instinct, trust the pathway of life that that instinct offers you (good and so-called bad!), accept everything, speak your mind honestly and act in an honest manner.

It takes great courage to live life in this sort of manner, but you will have friends who know you for exactly who you are and if there are lessons to be learned from living life this way, then they are the lessons to be learned.

Most importantly you will also get to know and trust yourself. How can you truly trust anything unless you test it!

Sometimes when we avoid life’s hardship, then we are also avoiding learning the lessons that need to be learned. I love the quote;

Stormy seas make a good sailor

From a spiritual point of view this was the lesson that Jesus was trying to demonstrate to us as He carried His cross on His way to Calvary (note: He did not allow anyone else to carry it  for Him!).

When He tripped and fell to His knees, He felt the pain and the struggle but He got up and continued on His journey to crucifixion and ultimately to our salvation.

This we are told happened three times. Does the phrase ‘No Pain No Gain’ ring a bell!

Another word that now comes to mind is resilience. This is what getting up and facing our struggles head-on means.

It does not mean avoiding them, it means facing them and fully accepting all the pain that goes with it.

It is this sort of attitude that made Tom Crean  (the mighty Kerry Antartic explorer from Annauscaul) an ‘Unsung Hero’.

It is this sort of attitude that permeates the Kerry football team – okay we don’t have the Sam Maguire but what pain, preparation and hardship are we willing to endure to get it back.

And we can throw in a bit of humour and remind ourselves that it only gone to Dublin to be polished for us for next year!

It is this sort of attitude that epitomises the likes of Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and Henry Ford as they are willing to go and express themselves and create wonders like no man has done before.  Yes they had their detractors and their critics but where are they now?

That is where the word innovator comes from, i.e. the willingness to be daring and to create something new that has never been experienced before.

They were willing and able to step out of their comfort zone and to put up with all of the criticism of all of those who weren’t willing to take those risks.

That is true courage. Thus when their epitaphs are written it will be said that they were the entrepreneurs of their time.

They had the ‘Courage of their Convictions!’

• Next week I am going to write about – Stepping out of our comfort zone 

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