Initiative

The world bestows its big prizes, both in money and honors, for but one

thing. And that is Initiative. What is Initiative? I'll tell you: It is

doing the right thing without being told. But next to doing the right

thing without being told is to do it when you are told once. That is to

say, carry the Message to Garcia! There are those who never do a thing

until they are told twice: such get no honors and small pay. Next, there

are those who do the right thing only when necessity kicks them from

behind, and these get indifference instead of honors, and a pittance for

pay. This kind spends most of its time polishing a bench with a

hard-luck story. Then, still lower down in the scale than this, we find

the fellow who will not do the right thing even when some one goes along

to show him how, and stays to see that he does it; he is always out of a

job, and receives the contempt he deserves, unless he has a rich Pa, in

which case Destiny awaits near by with a stuffed club. To which class do

you belong?