By Irene Conlan -
Yesterday a comment came in to this blog which I would love to share with you. In these days of Olympic Games, the financial crunch, massive unemployment and the myriad of challenges we face, this comment is both pertinent and inspirational. As you read it, think about your own battles, your challenges for survival – physical, economic, spiritual, emotional – and think what might be the outcome of quitting and of continuing. While we cannot see into the future we can reflect on how our decisions and our actions will affect people long after we are gone for good or for bad. The comment is about a very wise, courageous and thoughtful woman out of the pages the cold war.
From Pablo -
Persistence pays off, no matter what: My Polish grandmother never accepted the communist regime and the government could never take away her home. She fought all her life to keep her 2.700 sq. meters estate near Warsaw. She persisted despite everyone and everything that told her to give up and continue with her life in Argentina, after she left Poland. She died a few years after the regime fell and only recently we completed all the inheritance papers due to the fact that thanks to the war many original papers were lost and the info had to be reconstructed. Now we own a multimillion-euro property thanks to her decades-long stubbornness.
While Pablo and his fanily are the recipients of a great estate, they inherited something much more valuable – a legacy of persistence and valor. Those were brutal days and she literally risked her life when she stood up against the Communist regime. The rule of thumb is, “What the Communists want, the Communists take” and if you don’t like it – well a taste of the labor camps might help you change your mind. They had many ways, none pleasant, of helping you see things their way.
Pablo calls her stubborn. Hooray for that kind of stubbornness. She had grit and an unbend-able backbone. She had a spirit that could not be broken. The Communists met their match and Pablo’s inheritance is in tact.
Persistence pays off. Look at the Olympians if you need more confirmation of this. They keep on keeping on when they are injured, sick, poor, defeated.
Last night there were stories of parents who gave up everything in their own country and moved to Canada, starting their lives all over, so their daughter could have a skating coach and compete. They persisted and so did she – and she skated beautifully. One skater’s mother died of cancer two days before the competition and she skated – with tears flowing – but she persisted in memory of her mother.
Those who persist combing the job market will find employment. Those who persist in looking for solutions will eventually find some that work. Those that persist in learning a skill or an occupation will finally achieve it and perhaps master it. Those who persist in looking for love will find it – maybe different from what he/she imagined but love just the same. Those who keep putting one foot in front of the other will eventually reach their destination.
Persist. Keep on keeping on.
