SPIRIT OF AMBITION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19785, 8 March 1927, Page 11

SPIRIT OF AMBITION

SOME GOLDEN RULES GUIDING THE YOUNG MAN. ‘‘Whether rich or poor, a man needs to be taught that he must not give way to troubles but show that he is a man by courageously facing and surmounting them/’ stated Mr. J. Brown, president of the Dunedin Rotary Club, in an address at the NeW Zealand conference at Auckland last week. Mr Brown said that health wtas the greatest of gifts, and contentedness the best of riches. Of what use was wealth to him who neither gave nor enjoyed it? Riches were for the comfort of life and not life for the accumulation of riches. There was no one more deserving of pity than the man who spent his whole life in amassing money, without making proper use of it. Youth bad ambition which, confined to legitimate limits, was right and proper. The question was, what were legitimate limits? “Ambition takes various forms, but it may be assumed that in the mam mankind is divided into two classes,’’ continued Mr. Brown. “There are those who arc wholly selfish in character and those wherein the good of others is a predominating feature. Ambition, actuated by purely selfish motives, may lead to the attainment of its primary objects—the possession of wealth and personal rank or power, but it can neve* bring happiness. The ambition which springs from the desire to benefit the community tat large carries the individual concerned along the' road to success and ensures for him a measure of happiness and contentment. . . . ” What, then, did common sense advise in regard to what should constitute a young man’s ambition? He felt the answer would be along the following lines: To thoroughly master every detail of his calling and to qualify himself step by step for the positions that lie ahead. To learn how to obey in order that in later years he may know how to command. To study and conform to the rules of health. To store his mind with practical knowledge. To avoid every kind of intempeYence. To choose good companionship and avoid all waste and extravagance. The ambition of every young man must be framed so as to ensure the cultivation of those' attributes which could all be expressed in the one word “ character.’’ ' “In the resolve to make a success of life and in the process of qualification toward that end, is there any reason why a young man should be discontented?’’ asked Mr. Brown. “There is no reason—quite the reverse. The very fact that he' has set a course which he is determined to follow will, in itself, effectually prevent the possibility of discontent entering his mind. It is true that he will not feel satisfied until he has attained a fair measure of success, but this is a laudable feeling, wholly different from the restle'ss, unsettling discontent which always places formidable obstacles in the way of progress, land invariably leads to the destruction of happiness.