Three Unrelated Gems of Perseverance Zig Ziglar
His name was Hal Wright, and he was the long-time publisher of the north Sierra newspaper who gained fame delivering papers to remote subscribers by tossing them out of his airplane. He died at age 96 after a short illness.
In the midst of his 50-year run as publisher and delivery service, he became a local and even a national celebrity, featured in the London Daily Mail, on CBS, and NBC's "The Today Show," as well as in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Both houses of the state legislature awarded him proclamations. Along the way, Uncle Sam intervened, and Mr. Wright had to hire an attorney to force the Federal Aviation Administration to renew his pilot's license. His newspaper, which was a major source of information to his subscribers, featured his own aerial photographs and tidbits of news from around Sierra County, which has a population of 3,000. He and his wife worked as a team. She was nicknamed "Sweetie Pie," and together they worked to publish the biweekly. They both qualify as gems.
The second gem is about a devoted mother and a way too small football player. This mother of several children was committed to keeping her family together when her husband died. She worked at several jobs doing menial tasks, everything from cleaning offices to delivering coal. Eventually, she took the civil service exam and became the chief bookkeeper for the city treasurer. She used her strength and love to hold her family together and to raise her children.
One of the kids, though small, wanted to play football, but none of the colleges of any size offered him a scholarship. He played for a small college and excelled. Then his dream was to play in the NFL. He tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which was his home team, but he was cut from the team in short order. Next, he found a job in construction and helped build some of the skyscrapers seen today in Pittsburgh, but he held onto his dream. He did not see himself as a victim of circumstances, but as a person that would succeed despite his size.
What he did was look at his options and decide he would start anywhere. He played in a little league that paid him $6 a game and was able to improve his already considerable skills. He continued to stay in contact with NFL teams in hopes that somehow he would be noticed. After seven months of trying, he received an invitation to try out for the Baltimore Colts -- and I suppose that all of you football fans know the rest of that story. Johnny Unitas was one of the true greats and has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. He was a real gem.
The third gem was a Texan who coined the phrase "Remember the Alamo!" Fortunately, he did a great deal more than that. Once on board a ship home from England, Gail Borden saw children die as a result of drinking contaminated milk. The experience impacted his mind forever. As a matter of fact, he dedicated the remainder of his life to finding a way for humans to safely drink milk.
His experiments with condensed milk failed, but then one day he saw how the Shakers in New York condensed their maple sugar in a vacuum-sealed pan. His success led to the safety of milk in a non-refrigerated world, began the modern dairy industry, and launched a multibillion dollar company. Yes, Gail Borden was a true gem. On his tombstone are encouraging words of perseverance: "I tried and failed. I tried again and succeeded."
These three gems, each in their own way, teach some of life's greatest lessons.
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