Develop industry
By Jean Ricot Dormeus
Whenever I think of industry or diligence, a childhood scene jumps to my mind. I can see blacksmith Dunois at his forge turning a wheel to fan the fire on the charcoal and to get an iron bar red hot. Then placing the bar on his anvil, he would hammer it into a mattock or a hinge.
Dunois would use the same process to sharpen hoes, cutlasses, or sickles. And he would spend long hours at the forge, creating or fixing tools that support the community. Dunois’ industry sustained him and his family and at the same time created value for society. His experience clearly put into action the saying, “industry is the mother of prosperity.”
Our society has promoted hard work or industry as a vehicle that turns dreams into reality. We may not have to toil at a forge all day long, but whatever field we are in, we must work hard on ourselves by developing our knowledge and skills. Only then our work will become easy and we will achieve success.
In 2015, the Economist published an article which talked about how the Asian-American population is unusually happy. 69% of them still believe that hard work works wonders, while only 58% of Americans believe that hard work is worth it. Many people just leave their future to luck instead of engaging in continuous learning, self development, and good work ethics. Often this attitude ends up in poverty or a mediocre lifestyle.
If you apply the advice of Benjamin Franklin, you will realize that “Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy.” Therefore, the question should not be why a task is so difficult, but how you can develop the pertinent skills and habits to perform the task. Once you improve your brain power, incredible achievements will follow. Develop industry, and most of all develop yourself.
Jean Ricot Dormeus
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