This 1 of 4 blog posts written by a very special guest blogger: my Grandfather! My mother’s father, Clyde W. Kirkman (1915 – 1989). The photo at left is from WWII, 1944 or 1945, somewhere in Germany or maybe France. He was with the Army’s 69th Infantry, 271st Division, Company C. He was in the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Leipzig, the Capture of the Monument of Nations at Leipzig, to name a few.
My Grandfather was a hard working man. He worked in textiles and started in the dye house and worked his way up from there. In his later years he was in the planning department. He had a quiet way about him, and was insightful and instrumental in solving problems. He would occasionally write an article to appear in the company newspaper. My mother has some of these in a notebook he kept. His name is at the end of each typed article, but unfortunately, he didn’t put a date. I’m going to take a guess and say these were written in the 70s, maybe earlier. I’ve “borrowed” the notebook from my mother and will feature a few of the articles from time to time. This first post is a short one but a good one: thanks “Paw”!
Progress Never Begins for Any Man Until He Substitutes Dreams and Talk with Action.
Before we can do anything we must first make up our minds to do it. Then we can think negatively, which is merely a state of doubt, backed up by a do-nothing attitude. We can talk about what we are going to do – how we intend to accomplish this or that – but never take any action and our accomplishments will only be excuses for which there is no market or demand
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We can take a positive attitude backed up with action and actually create our own world where trouble is only opportunity in working clothes – where we put on our thinking caps, roll up our sleeves, and attack every obstacle with real determination and zest. Then we are bound to take those forward steps on the journey toward success.
Temporary disappointments along the way will often be blessings in disguise for when we learn to overcome and rise above our setbacks, we really serve notice that we are going to reach our goals – and soon.
C.W. Kirkman
The other 3 blog posts by my grandfather: