The Process of Preparing

“Art is long, and Time is fleeting”¹ as Longfellow long ago said. And now, more than ever, preparation is long⎯and life is fleeting⎯as those who are young soon become aware. And in addition to academic credentials it involves character, morality, dedication, maturity of mind and heart. And obviously there is sometimes discouragement in the process of learning, and some temptation to drop out, quit. At such times we would well remember these words from David Starr Jordan: “Our duties to our afterselves are more vital than our duties to our present selves . . . “² he said. All of us have felt crowded and pressured at times and tempted to give up, tempted to bypass the best preparation possible. But no one has ever arrived at solid attainment without some difficulty and delay. And to you who are young and preparing: Don’t panic; don’t be impatient. Don’t worry about the time preparation takes. Rather worry about time not spent in preparing. Keep moving. Think deeply. Learn thoroughly. The direction is more important than the speed, and maturing always takes time. Always it takes time to arrive at anything really worth wanting. It is still not a world of so-called quick success. It takes time and experience to develop the excellence for which the highest satisfaction is received, the highest price paid. And what if it does take time? Everything does. And in a world that spends much time in pursuit of pleasure, responsible excellence is still the essential factor of satisfaction and success⎯

and the Lord God never intended that we should do anything but succeed. Those who drop out for trivial reasons, those who cease to learn, those who don’t continue to increase their competence, are exceedingly shortsighted.