TEAMWORK & COOERATION
Cooperation, like love and friendship, is something you get by giving.
There are many travelers on the road that leads to happiness. You will need their cooperation, and they will need yours.
And there will be other generations after ours. Their lot in life will depend largely on the inheritance we leave to them. We must become bridge-builders, not only for the present generation but for generations yet unborn. And we must build for them in the spirit of the old man about whom the poet wrote:
An old man, traveling a lonely highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
For the sullen stream had no fears for him.
But he turned when he reached the other side, And builded a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here. Your journey will end with the ending day,
And you never again will pass this way.
“You have crossed the chasm deep and wide. Why build you a bridge at eventide?”
And the builder raised his old grey head:
“Good friend, on the path I have come,” he said, “There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
“This stream which has been as naught to me,
To that fair-haired boy may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
This spirit of unselfish team work will provide greater benefits for this generation, as well as help those yet to come. Thus, in serving as bridge-builders for future generations we shall be preparing ourselves for the better things of life which can come only through friendly cooperation.
If you use this philosophy for personal benefit, remember you owe something to those who will follow you. Remember, too, to build for them.
Such cooperation was a major contributing factor in the establishment and growth of the United States of America, and its unchallenged leadership in world economy which developed a higher standard of living than ever known before. The American standard of living must go on; the system of free enterprise must be preserved; the American form of Republican government must be protected; its schools and churches must be given a firm foundation; its sources of financial income must be made secure for the benefit of those who will follow us, just as these have been preserved by those who have preceded us.
We are bound in a common cause, and no matter what misfortunes may overtake America, the burdens will fall heavily on the shoulders of each of us. We can lighten these burdens by acquiring and expressing the spirit of unselfish team work in all our relationships…
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