Motivational materials usually have to be read with some degree of circumspect. Even as a coach and motivational trainer, I have caught myself saying things in my exuberance that later needed to be modified. Take our quote today which comes to us from the Reverend Robert Schuler. I am always built up listening to what he has to say. In todays quote he says Tough times never last, but tough people do. My knee jerk reaction was Wow! Isnt that the truth? But in thinking it through a bit, I pondered on things like American black slavery. Those tough times lasted over 400 years for some as did the slavery of the Israelites by the Egyptians around 1300 B.C.E. If you were a slave living in those tough times there was little truth found in Reverend Schulers words. The truth is there are tough times that do last a life time for some of us.
However If you were to look at your life you would see that tough times rarely do last forever. They are cyclical. They come and they go. It is with this inference in mind that Schuler speaks. Of course, every individual experiences life differently and if one lives life unwisely, they will suffer more than the next. Though external...