Watauga Democrat

"The Way of Life"
By
BRUCE BARTON

WHEN'S THE TIME TO QUIT

I rode downtown in a taxicab, and looked at the picture of the driver on the license card which is issued by the police.

Where have I seen a face like that?

Suddenly I knew. An acquaintance of mine looks enough like that taxi driver to be his twin.

If the whole truth be blurted out, I doubt if there is a very wide difference in intelligence between that taxi driver and my acquaintance. Neither has much education. Neither is well read. Neither can be accused of profound thought.

How is it, then, that one is on the front seat of a cab and the other rides in the back seat of a limousine?

Luck? Undoubtedly there is a lot of luck in every successful career. But I think my acquaintance has at least one quality which the taxi driver lacks. He stuck to his game thru some pretty lean, tough years when there was every reason to be discouraged and quit.

The dividing line between success and failure is just a hairline in thousands of cases. One single decision may make all the difference.

A young man has just been promoted into the vice-presidency of a corporation, and given a stock participation that will make him many times a millionaire.

He told me that he started in a branch office of the company as an accountant. Before long he had made himself master of one certain phase of the company's affairs.

He looked around him and above him, and was discouraged. Everywhere his way seemed to be blocked by men who had been there longer, but were young enough so that they would be active for many years.

One night he definitely decided to look for something else. The next day an officer of the company visited his branch, and a violent discussion ensued. The officer upheld one side of the question, my young friend the other. And my young friend knew his facts; he was right.

The argument ended by the officer asking him to come down to New York "for a few weeks." He has been there ever since.

If he had resigned the preceding evening, my young friend would have missed his one great chance.

Hanging over the door of the laboratory of a great automobile company is this sentence: "No one ever would have crossed the ocean if he could have got off in the storm."

I am not writing this piece to try to make any man contented with a poor job. There are plenty of instances where men have made their everlasting fortunes by making a fresh start.

But more often, I think, the battle is won just by sitting tight.