Don’t you love the way small children take such intense pride in their accomplishments? Recently, our five-year-old grandson could hardly wait to show us his new backward somersault.
The good feelings we have about our accomplishments have little to do with the accomplishments themselves. They result from our attitude toward what we’ve achieved, whether it’s learning to somersault backward or winning the presidency of the United States.
One of America’s most famous political families, the Tafts, once encouraged their youngest child to appreciate each family member’s accomplishments. When Martha Taft was in grade school, she was asked to introduce herself
She said, “My name is Martha Bowers Taft. My greatgrandfather was president of the United States. My grandfather was a United States senator. My daddy is ambassador to Ireland. And I am a Brownie.”
It isn’t only our children who need pride in who they are, in what they do, and in what they’ve achieved. We all do. We all must remember that there is no unimportant work in the world. It all has to be done. If someone is willing to pay us to do it, then the work, no matter how unglamorous, has value. That value entitles us to feel pride when we do the job, what-ever it is, when we do it well.
It isn’t our work that produces pride, but rather the way we feel about our work.
