LITTLE?PERSPIRATION AND?ALL?INSPIRATION. It has the ring of the message of accomplishment that many American positivists and success advisers market in magazines and on television – and people everywhere just fall for it.
Ever shunning hard work, the “instant-success” gullible shuffle from one failed “little-perspiration” plan to another, wallowing in the mire of empty promises.
This we must discourage our Barbadian youth from falling victim to. There is no shortcut to real success. Accomplishment comes only with practice and diligence.
Actually, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s recipe for success is most appropriate and timely: 98 per cent perspiration and two per cent inspiration.
Paying tribute in Parliament on Tuesday to National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers, who celebrated his 75th birthday on July 28, the Prime Minister proffered that the achievements of the world’s greatest all-round cricketer ever could be a lesson to young people who thought they could succeed on little perspiration and all inspiration.
They needed, he reiterated, to understand that Sir Garry’s accomplishments came by working “very, very, very hard at his game”.
We concur with the Prime Minister that it would do our youth the world of good studying the life and times of Sir Garfield Auburn Sobers, who never allowed his humble birth and the limitations of his Bay Land district to so encompass him that he could not break free to accomplishment – and ultimately genius.
And through it all Sir Garry, as it is agreed, never lost “the common touch”. His is an instruction in the proper mix of the highest attainment and classic humility.
This is an exemplary state not lost on Opposition Leader Owen Arthur.
In Parliament he too spoke to Sir Garry’s “lifestyle of excellence” combined with a “generosity of spirit” and that “old-fashioned decency about how you lived your life”.
Mr Arthur said Sir Garry, with pride in himself and his country, had shown that one could reach the top, no matter one’s origins and challenges as a youth, and that he was a model for all Barbadians seriously seeking one.
In this day when models of social conduct and personal behaviour are sorely needed, some instruction may be got from Sir Garry. By extrapolation, other quality characteristics may be honed by our youth using the Sobers application in their academic studies, peer sporting and individual development.
As the Prime Minister has warned, however, it will take much effort: 98 per cent perspiration and two per cent inspiration. We dare not disagree.
