07Oct04

24 September 1914, during WWI, on the Four-de-Paris Road, then Lieutenant Irwin Rommel gives this account:

"Our platoon leader wanted to know if we should open fire. What else was there for us to do? We were about to get into a nasty scrap, and there was n o use allowing the French to start it free from casualties... Once again we rushed the enemy. Again, the enemy fired madly but carelessly. Finally, scar cely twenty paces ahead, I saw five Frenchmen firing from the standing position.

Instantly my gun was at my shoulder. Two Frenchmen, one standing behind th e other, dropped to the ground as my rifle cracked, but I still was faced with the remaining three. My rifle then failed to fire. I quickly opened the magazine and found it empty. The nearness of the enemy left no time for rel oading, nor was any cover at hand. My fixed bayonet was my only hope. I had been a n enthusiastic bayonet fighter during training. Even with the odds of three t o one against me, I had complete confidence in the weapon and in my ability.. . and I prevailed that day!"

Lesson: "Great souls have wills; feeble ones only wishes."

"We're face-to-face with destiny, and we must meet it with resolute courage . For ours is a life of action, of strenuous performance, of duty. Let us live in the harness of striving mightily. Let us run the risk of wearing ou t rather than rusting out." -Theodore Roosevelt

"There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to b uy provisions. In a little while the servant returned, white and trembling, a nd said, "Master, just now, when I was in the marketplace, I was jostle d by a women in the crowd. When I turned, I saw that it was Death that jostled me. She

made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away to Samara. I will avoid my fate, for Death will not find me there. The merchant lent his servant his horse as he had requested. The servant mount ed and galloped away as fast as he could. The merchant then went himself down to t he marketplace, and, when he saw me standing in the crowd, he came to me and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant this mo rning?" " That was not a threatening gesture, I said. It was only a start of surpris e. You see, I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight... in Samara."

"Who constantly 'fears to fail' will, in the end, fa il without even trying."

/John