GROW TALL
This poem, which is attributed to a man named Douglas Malloch, is one of my favorites. Life was never meant to be easy–for trees or for people. It really is in the tough times that we grow the most. The tree that never had a to fight
for sun and sky and air and light,
but stood out in the plain,
and always got its share of rain,
never became a forest king,
but lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
to gain and farm his patch of soil,
who never had to win his share
of sun and sky and light and air,
never became a manly man
but lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow in ease;
the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees;
the further the sky, the greater the length;
the more the storm, the more the strength;
by sun and cold, by rain and snow,
in trees and man, good timber grows.
So remember this: The tougher the goin’ – the faster the growin’!