Stubborn or Determined.

Swan Lake.

A friend the other day told me that I had always been a very stubborn person refusing to give up no matter how often told to. My first reaction was to deny such thought, then I took a little thought and decided I was not stubborn but I might be a determined person. Determined to keep at something until I get to either where I want to be or to have something as I would like it to be. 

Of course, I thought that there was little difference if any.

Two stubborn friends had the following meeting of stubborn minds. 

Frank Wright built a house for industrialist Hibbard Johnson. Wright was convinced he had at last designed and built the perfect house and was not going to move from this belief even though his friend had pointed out more than once a design fault.

One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head.

Irate, he called Wright. "Frank," he said, "you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But I have told you the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head." 

Wright thought for a moment and his reply was heard by all of the guests. "Well, Hib, why don't you move your chair?"

Stubborn does not always take time to be rational and when two stubborn minds collide it is never easy.

Now determination is another thing altogether. Can you imagine how long it too the ballerina above to be able to hold that pose without falling? 

Someone once asked Paul Harvey, the journalist and radio commentator, to reveal the secret of his success. "I get up when I fall down," said Harvey. That is not being stubborn that is sheer determination.

Sport has always had those moments where such determination shines through. One such happened in the  1992 Summer Olympics. American sprinter Gail Devers was the clear leader in the 100-meter hurdles but tripped over the last barrier. She agonizingly pulled herself to her knees and crawled the last five meters, finishing fifth, but finishing.

As a young man, film director Robert Flaherty spent many months in the far north looking for iron ore and cod. He found neither, but he did shoot 70,000 feet of film in his travels. 

Someone encouraged him to edit the film and make a documentary, which Flaherty spent weeks doing. But just as he finished, a match from his cigarette dropped among the celluloid, consuming the entire film and burning Flaherty badly. 

His response to the disaster was a determination to return to the far north and make a film of Eskimo life "that people will never forget." He did just that, and the result was the classic 1922 documentary, "Nanook of the North."

Determination comes in many forms stubbornness seems to be just that.  I, of course, could well be wrong and maybe my friend is right I might just be a stubborn cantankerous old man. I hope not!

Have a wonderful day.