Not the Bet-Hedgers

It’s not the bet-hedgers who build the future.

Nor the just-a-little-consulting-work-on-the-side.

It’s those with absolute conviction.

That however it happens, however long it may take, the result is not in doubt:

They will prevail.

A Different Cloth

The American Civil War was a bloodbath.

655,000 Americans died. More than in WWI, WWII, and the War of Independence combined.

Abraham Lincoln, the President at the time, endured four years of chaos. His North fought against The South for the end of slavery.

The early years saw dramatic Northern defeats. Their Generals found wanting. Until, that is, the rise of Ulysses S. Grant.

The key failings of Grant’s predecessors was a reluctance to take action. Excuse followed excuse and initiative slipped from their grasp. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

But Grant was cut from a different cloth. His war years defined by a relentless push forward. Every inch fought to the last.

Grant told Lincoln, during the final drive to the Southern capital:

“You will never hear me farther from Richmond than now, till I have taken it. I am just as sure of going into Richmond as I am of any future event.

It may take a long summer day, but I will go in.”