Persist and resist on stay whole Tuesday

Epictetus

Lucy,

This morning I read a chapter titled 'Practice Persistence' (p. 76) in The Obstacle is the Way. Holiday tells stories of General Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas Edison. 

In Civil War times, for nearly a year, Grant tried many different ways to break through the defenses of the Confederacy in Vicksburg, MS. This was a critical city to the southern armies and their ability to control the Mississippi River. None of Grant's attempts to gain control worked, but he kept trying and eventually he found a way through. 

"At Vicksburg, Grant learned two things. First, persistence and pertinancity were incredible assets and probably his main asset as a leader. Second, as often is the result from such dedication, in exhausting all the other traditional options, he'd been forced to try something new. That option - cutting loose from his supply trains and living off the spoils of hostile territory - was a previously untested strategy that the North could now use to slowly deplete the South of its resources and will to fight." (p. 77)

And I know you are familiar with how many times Edison tried to create the incandescent light before he found the way. History says that he tried six thousand different filaments! Just like Grant in Vicksburg, Edison used persistence to eventually get there.

The phrase 'persist and resist' was a favorite of Epictetus, the Greek Stoic Philosopher who is often a subject in Holiday's books. "Persist in your efforts. Resist giving in to distraction, discouragement, or disorder."

Stay whole,

Dad