"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
Samuel Johnson
Churchill Was Right . . .
. . .about many, many things. But his one utterance that I have made my personal mantra is “never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty - - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”*
This credo has served me well through many years – through polio, through divorce, through false accusations, through neighborhood zoning battles, through illness and yes, even through the death of loved ones. It has sustained me. But, though I am a major fan of Sir Winston, I feel I might have had the same doggedness even if I had not heard his utterance. I believe there is something deep inside me, inside all of us, that simply does not know how to give up against evil, lies, despair, a righteous cause, and all those shocks “that flesh is heir to.”
Our very country started this way. Admittedly the spark was “taxation without representation.” But that was a big deal to those who had struck out, and put down roots in a new world. They chose not to be controlled remotely from the mother country, and so voilá, the good ol’ U S of A!
But this spirit is not limited to one country, one race . . . no, it is universal. And this brings me to a recent sermon our pastor shared. (By the way, I urge you to go to church, as there is much to learn there, and it is not always limited to scripture.) Very often we find out about the human condition, and sometimes a tidbit of history is added—art history in this instance.
If one’s mind does not wander at our church service one can receive such edification from our pastor as he makes a point. One Sunday I recall retrieving a pad to write down a factoid I had never heard about Michelangelo. It seems, as I learned later from my artist daughter, that sculptors often put aside a piece of stone that was just not working out, for it only to be picked up by another sculptor who was successful is his efforts.
And so it was with Michelangelo and his David. Our pastor revealed that “Michelangelo created David from a piece of marble that had been twice discarded by other sculptors. Agostino di Duccio gave up on a project using the block, after which it sat untouched for 10 years. At that point, Antonio Rossellino took a crack at the block but decided it was too much of a pain to work with. When Michelangelo finally got his hands on it, the marble had been waiting for 40 years for someone who was up to its challenge.”**
So there you are—determination does the trick. You may be the one to finally succeed where others have not. It seems there was a flaw in this particular marble which Michelangelo knew about and made it part of the sculpture. (This also reminds me of the quote about making lemonade out of lemons.) Maybe it took Michelangelo’s talent, maybe just his whim to do it, maybe it was just as simple as procuring a free block of marble. But that small part of me likes to think it was the doggedness of which I speak. The artist saw his chance to succeed where others had not and dove in to chisel out one of the most impressive works of art in history. By the way, he was also a painter, architect and poet.
So, I urge you to persevere. Afraid of public speaking? Want to go back to college? Have a craft or piece of knitting that cries out for completion? Never got around to joining that club, group, church you meant to join? Well, never give in – instead dive in as Michelangelo did. Adopt my mantra and Churchill’s historic words, and never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
*The full quote is:
“this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
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