Obstacles

Someone took the time to analyze the faces of the 90 famous people who were included in the book, The Faces of Greatness. 

• 70 of the men who posed for the photographer were physically unattractive;
• 35 had obvious moles, cysts, and warts;
• 13 had noticeable freckles or liver spots;
• 20 had problems with acne or other pimples; and
• 2 had highly visible scars. 

 
These blemishes did not deter them though. These people were some of history’s greats!

• Wilder, the great playwright;
• Rogers, the composer of South Pacific and other musicals;
• Christian Dior, the honored designer

all had imperfections that were obvious to the world. What might have embarrassed lesser men just added character to these fellows.
 
Then too:

• Sir Walter Scott limped through life on club feet. 
• Napoleon had epilepsy.
• John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost, Fanny Crosby the great hymn writer, and Stevie Wonder the pop singer were all blind.
• Beethoven was deaf. 
• The teachers of Thomas A. Edison said he was too stupid to learn. 
• F. W. Woolworth built a great chain of department stores. Nevertheless, when he was 21 years old, he was not permitted to wait on the customers in the store where he worked at the time. His employers said he did not have sense enough to meet the public. 
• Louisa May Alcott, who wrote Little Women, a book that has been read by millions, was told by an editor that she had no writing ability and advised her to stick to her sewing.  

 
I have written for publication numerous times. For inspiration sake, I carry an article in my billfold. It is from Time magazine. The piece is entitled “A River of Chicken Soup.” It is about the Chicken Soup series of books. The wildly successful series now encompasses better than 200 titles with over 100 million copies in print in 54 languages worldwide.
The interesting thing about all of this is, according to the Time magazine article, “One major publisher after another turned the two authors down cold, and after the 33rd rejection, their agent quit.” Nonetheless, they pressed on with a firm belief in their product and the rest, as they say, is publishing history. 
 
I have heard it said, “Others could overcome their obstacles, but my case is different.” The only difference is that some people fight to overcome their obstacles, while others sit back and let their obstacles overcome them. Where do you find yourself in that equation?

The Redeemed Team