--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Jensen, Nephi collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 4 published: 1907-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Jensen, Nephi, "Aim," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 4 (February 1907): 252–256.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1004unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1004unse start_page: 252 end_page: 256 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1004unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Aim AIM. BY NEPHI JENSEN, SECRETARY Y. M. M. I. A., GRANITE STAKE. "That life is long which answers life's great end." — Young. "Without a purpose what were life? Eating, sleeping, toil and strife." "What makes life dreary is the want of motive." — George Eliot. "Hitch your wagon to a star." — Emerson. Our purposeful exertions determine our success. Aimless, desultory work is wasted- Only intelligent and wisely directed effort brings results. The sculptor converts the rough marble into the beautiful statue, because he keeps the design constantly in his mind, and sees the relation of each blow he strikes to the fin- ished masterpiece. Each touch of the artist's brush expresses part of his great thought, because there is a motive back of it. And so each act of the aspiring soul helps to make his life approach this highest ideal. It is not enough to be strenuous. We must plan as well as work. Not the amount of energy we have, but rather the wisdom with which we use it, is the measure of our power of achievement. Out of weakness has come the greatest strength. Some of the thoughts which have lived through the ages were given to the world by men whose bodies were racked with pain and consumed by disease. What was the secret of Homer's achievement? Not extraordinary capacity for work, but rather the power of concentration. Purpose is the polar star of life. The aimless man is like the navigator, who is at sea and does not know his bearings. The unfortunate seafarer may move, and the aimless man exert himself, but there is no telling what will become of either. But the man who has fixed his mind with invincible determination on' a certain AIM. 253 goal, turns neither to the right nor to the, left, but goes straight to the object of his aspirations. He not only proves, but reaches a destination, for he works to a plan and wastes no energy. He has a program and is not compelled to spend most of his time in a futile endeavor to decide what to do next. Prodisjious exertion, if spasmodic, counts for little. A greet torrent of water falling on a rock, for an instant, makes no impression on the adamantine surface, but the almost impercept- ible dripping, going on through centuries, converts the hardest stone into pebbles. Things of worth are of slow growth. The poplar is a large tree in a very short time after it is planted, but the sturdy oak requires a century in which to mature. Fame is often instantaneously won; but the building of character is the work of a lifetime. But every little deed does its part in wearing off some rough corner, or developing a latent trait. It is the per- sistent and continuous right living that transforms the,nature and makes it approach the Godlike. Only as our good acts of today supplement those of yesterday, do we progress. Constancy is bet- ter than intensity. A noble aim is not only an impetus to effort; but also deters from doing what is inimical to true progress. The man of lofty aspirations lives in the future rather than the present. He resists the temptation to be satisfied with present pleasures, for he works for something mere enduring. While Daniel Webster was at Dartmouth College, he was invited to deliver a Fourth of July oration in a country town. His effort was not alto-^ether without merit. But all who listened were not uncritical. The local editor was a man of fine literary attainments. He wrote a review of Mr. Webster's speech. He praised parts of the oration as 'Vigorous and eloquent," but other parts he criticised severely, and said "they were mere emptiness.' ' The future orator read the criticism, and thinking it just, resolved that whatever else should be said of his style, it should never again be said there was "emptiness" in it. He carried out the resolve. He resisted the temptation to say pretty or grandiloquent things for present effect, and aimed only to express thoughts worthy of immortality. Some of his contempo- raries surpassed him in the power to elicit applause. Their speeches were cheered, but time has consigned them to oblivion^ 254 IMPROVEMENT ERA. But the orations of the great Massachusetts senator have been {accredited a permanent place in the literature of a great nation. Unwavering faith in one's possibilities, coupled with a deter- mination to make the most of them, is necessary to highest suc- cess. "As your faith, so shall it be unto you." We do not strive for what we believe impossible of accomplishment. *'A faint heart never won a fair bride." The value of the prize we seek, is the measure of the exertions we make to win it. "A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm." The young man who merely exists, and has no aspiration beyond that of "having a good time," will not value highly the precious minutes, nor make the best use of opportunities for self- culture. But the aspiring young man, who aims to live in the highest and truest sense, — who aims to get the most out of life in the way of intellectual, esthetic and spiritual development—will strive to use wisely every minute; and make every opportunity his servant. For him there are so many fields to conquer that he feels himself compelled to work unremittingly, and tax his energies almost to the limit. Before him are the lofty heights to be scaled, and he cannot afford to waste his time in frivolity and mere pleasure-seeking. His course is evA' onward and upward. He waits not for opportu- nities; he either finds them or makes them. The word "impossible" is not in his vocabulary. Nor does he talk of luck, but with the poet says, Let the fool prate of luck ! The fortunate Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves, - Whose slightest action or inaction serves The one great aim. The aspiring soul knows no defeat. He is not daunted by difficulties, nor hindered in his progress by obstructions in the way. By the very sovereignty of his determination, he masters every situation. If his opportunities are few, he uses one in such a way that it counts for ten. Prosperity does not beguile him into inac- tivity, nor adversity dishearten him. Praise does not blind him to his defects, nor criticism lessen his faith in ultimate victory^ Whether the heartbeats strong or weak, resolution never fails him. He remembers that, 'Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up, Whose golden rounds are our calamities. AIM. 255 For what, then, should we work, wait, and pray? For riches? Yes. But the kind that endures— the riches of heart and head. He is not rich who owns a railroad, but does not appreciate the charms of music, feel the inspiration of poetry or enjoy the acquaintance of the makers of history. But he is incomparably rich who has, by study and research, perfected his claim to the legacy of great thoughts which the ages have bequeathed to those who will receive it. Possession is not ownership. Gold will buy the great pictures of Raphael and Donatella, but it cannot give the artist's delight in the sublime and beautiful. Not those who can buy the great pictures, are the owners; but those who can see in them what the masters saw. Money will buy the great books, but it cannot make one the true owner of them—the owner of these priceless treasures of knowledge and wisdom. Books are not always owned by those on whose shelves they lie. The real owners are those who have made the books a part of themselves. It is nobler to be than to have. The power to think right, act wisely and live beautifully, is more to be desired than much gold. What shall it profit a man though he gain the whole world of material riches and remain poor in heart and head? To save one's soul and make it rich and glorious in the noblest graces, is the highest achievement of man ! Some profound thinker said, "Character is the greatest thing in the world." Whether or not this is so, it is not necessary to debate. But it is certain that Emerson spoke the truth when he said, "Character is more than intellect. Ability elicits our admi- ration; but to worth we pay the homage of our sincerest veneration. The inclination and strength to do the right regardless of conse- quences, is to be preferred rather than the ability to command the applause of the multitude from the platform or through the printed page. He is great who has kept unsullied his good name, although he has not taken a city or written a book. Shakespeare says: Good name in man or women, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their soals. Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing, 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name. 256 IMPRO VEMENT ERA. Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. If he is poor who has been "robbed" of his "good name," infinitely poorer is he who has carelessly lost it, or given it in exchange for dross. Fame is not greatness. The lives of those who are talked about most are not always the most nearly ideal. Sometimes the brilliant pen is in an unclean hand and guile found on the most eloquent lips. All the good Christians do not sit in the "Amen corner." Many of earth's greatest noblemen live their unostenta- tious lives of helpfulness and consecration unnoticed by the multi- tudes. They evidence the truth of Gray's lines: Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. And waste its sweetness on the desert air. At a certain Baptist convention, a man diminutive in size was moderator. When he arose to speak, only his head appeared above the pulpit, and when he spoke he could not be heard in the rear end of the building. He had only spoken a few words when some one who failed to hear yelled out, "Get up higher." "I can't," responded the good man, "to be a Baptist is as high up as a man can get." But he was mistaken. To be a man, true- hearted, high-minded and courageous, is the highest aspiration one can have. William E. Channing says: The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptation from within and without, who bears the heaviest bur- den cheerfully, who is calmest in storm and most fearless under menace and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering. Forest Dale, Utah.