Self Discipline

Long time good friend Joe Garcia sent me quite a character reminder today.  He forwarded a copy of headmaster Jack Pidgeon’s commencement address to our class at The Kiski
School.  I read it right away – I hadn’t heard it for more than twenty years.  The message resonated as vividly as the authoritative New England intonation and cadence I could hear delivering it.

Wonderfully written, it’s chock full of Mr. Pidgeon’s own warm memories that brought me momentarily back to boyhood.   In the speech he says, "The longer I live the more I believe that the essential factor which places some men above others is their superior capacity for self-discipline." Jack also reminds us to, "never, never, never, never, never quit." He goes on to remind us of how we are all capable:

"You don’t have to have been born with talent or brains or special abilities or a capacity for leadership.  You don’t even have to have been born tough.  The happiest fact of life is that the one ingredient we need the most is ours for the taking.  All you have to do to acquire it is this: beginning today, stop doing something you shouldn’t do and start doing each day something you know you should do."

Thanks Joe.  It was especially generous to send this out.  Reading "On Self-Discipline" was a heartwarming connection to the roots of my commitment to a life of character and principles. 

You can download "On Self-Discipline" by Jack Pidgeon here.