My mother and I were driving home from services at the First Baptist in Enid, Oklahoma. We were in Enid because my dad was stationed at Vance Air Force Base at the time. I was 8 years old. I don’t know why we were alone in the car. Maybe my brother and sister were sick and Dad stayed home with them. I’m not sure…I just know we were alone in the car together when the subject of quitting came up.
This was usual
In my family we didn’t talk about philosophy or principles of winning. You hear people say, ‘my Mother always said… my Grandmother always told me….my Dad always said, son…’ and then they run off some nifty saying about getting ahead in life. That wasn’t us. My parents were concerned about the basics, eat, sleep, school, homework, church…stay on schedule…be good. No sayings or nifty lessons on life. Except this time.
I have no idea how the subject came up
My mom was emphatic, never quit! She even had an analogy—needless to say this was unusual too. She said quitting was like a taking a wooden square block and rolling it over. She said, once you rolled it over the edge would be dulled a little. That would make it easier to quit the next time. Each time you quit it would get easier and easier…and before long you wouldn’t be able to stick with anything. So don’t quit. Don’t get started.
That stuck with me.
I don’t have many memories of my early years but that one is vivid. A brief moment in time. To my knowledge the subject never came up again. But it was burned into my brain. It became a part of who I am. That little lesson was how I learned about not quitting. I had no idea how important a lesson it was. As I grew older, like everyone, I had some tough challenges…
