The Importance of Strength of Will ~ Fr. E. Boyd Barrett

Written for American boys over one hundred years ago, this book is a valuable tool for anyone that wants to learn more about the importance and the building up of the strength of the will.

by Fr. E. Boyd Barrett, The Will to Win, 1917

In order to bring more concretely before your mind the importance of Strength of Will, I make two assumptions. First, I assume, as I have a right to do, for it is admitted by all, that “man’s life on earth is a warfare.”

Secondly, I assume that you have, in accordance with your ideal, chosen your side in that warfare, the side of duty and of justice. Life then is a war, a long and bitter struggle, already begun for you. It is a battle against clever, bitter, and unrelenting enemies, enemies without and enemies within.

The fighting never ceases — at no place or time in life is there a moment’s truce. On occasion it may seem that truce has been declared, and that you are left unmolested, but this appearance of peace is deceptive. It is only a wile of your enemy.

The struggle all through is a life or death struggle — it is not a matter about which you may trifle — it is too real, too serious, too momentous.

Since life is a warfare, since it is a battle that must be won, a battle of terrible intensity, it behooves you to prepare for it. You must be ready, trained, fully armed, and well prepared. You must be foreseeing. You must be efficient in every respect.

Unreadiness, unpreparedness means defeat. You must arm yourself with the best possible instrument, you must learn its use thoroughly, and keep it in the best fighting trim. If you do not avail yourself of the best weapon, you will be unable to conquer. If you do not know how to use this weapon, or if you suffer it to get out of order, or if you put it aside in disdain, you will likewise be overcome.

Now, as you will guess, the best instrument for winning life’s battle is the Will, and no doubt you will agree that you must perfect it, and perfect yourself in its use. Surely then a Strong Will is of the greatest importance.

It may seem strange to you that life should be described as a long battle — and a fierce battle. But when you reflect on it, you will see that there is no exaggeration in all this.

Between right and wrong there is eternal enmity; between the angels of light and the angels of darkness, between duty and treachery, between justice and injustice, between truth and falsehood, the fight will rage to the end of the world — “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent only will bear it away.”

But even if life be regarded from other points of view than that of good and evil, you will also see what a warfare it is. Can knowledge and wisdom be won without a long struggle? Can progress in art be won without much effort? Can success in business or in the learned professions be achieved without years of thought and labor? Must not man’s brow be bathed many times in sweat before he gains even the natural fruits of natural toil?

In every walk of life we find that we must fight a bitter fight in order to win — in things spiritual as well as in things temporal. Even for material success Strength of Will is necessary. Our portion here below is work and effort — and work and effort demand Strength of Will.

Above all, if life is to be bright and happy, if we are to face difficulties and failure with courage and light-heartedness, if we are to lend a hand to help others and to do so generously, we need to have Strong Wills.

In earlier sections I pointed out that we cannot fulfil our two supreme duties to God and to our country unless we perfect our characters, and I quoted the saying, well worth remembering, “The only way to be a patriotic American is to do your best to become a perfect man.”

It may now be well to consider more in detail the need of perfecting our characters for our own sakes. This need will perhaps best be seen by means of a three-fold classification — showing three different ways in which duties are faced, or faults corrected.

The first class then is that of boys who realize that they have some serious faults and bad habits, and who see that there are certain things which they ought to do, but which they don’t do. They are anxious to get rid of their failings. They promise themselves to correct them, but as it happens they never make any serious effort to do so, and their faults and evil habits remain and grow stronger.

The second class of boys have likewise faults to correct and neglected duties to fulfil. They desire very much to improve. They make some efforts — but their efforts are insufficient and their faults remain, They are only half-hearted and half-serious in their endeavors and of course they fail. They fail as completely as the first class. They too are weak-willed.

The third class of boys have also faults and bad habits. They see clearly, as indeed the others see, that if they are to improve they must make strong efforts. They make really strong efforts and they succeed. They mend their ways effectively. These boys are strong-willed.

Now this classification, though it seems dry and formal, is very true to nature. If you think a little of your own manners of facing duties or of getting rid of faults, you will, I think, be able to find to which class you belong.

If you belong to the second class, while you show signs of goodwill in making some efforts, still you are likely, very likely, to slip back into the first class and give up making any efforts at all.

It may be well now to consider a little what will happen later on — what kind of man you are likely to become or rather are certain, to become if you remain in the first or in the third class.

And I think we may assume that when you are a man you will be in one of the two extreme classes — that of the weak-willed, or that of the strong-willed.

Let us consider, first of all, the future that lies before weak-willed men. Are weak-willed men likely to be happy? Are they likely to succeed in life, or to do good? Have they much hope of coming out victors in life’s long war? Is it possible for them to lead honorable useful lives?

I think we must answer “No!” to each of these questions. A weak-willed man shirks most of his duties. He descends very soon to falsehood and deceit. He indulges himself on almost every occasion, and gives way to temptation. He does not try to restrain his passions he becomes intemperate and sensual.

He cares little for the interests of his Faith or of his country. And he often betrays his friends. He is so selfish that he is ready to betray any cause, however noble, for personal ends.

There is no sense of honor in him. His example is evil — or at least he is an object of contempt. He enjoys no peace of soul, for he carries a heavy burden on his conscience. He is a coward at heart, and fears the opinions of his fellow men.

He knows he is a failure– and he is pointed at as such. He knows that he is utterly defeated in life’s battle, and that he has lived the life of a fool.

I have of course painted this picture in strong colors, and it is perhaps somewhat overdone. Still, we have not to search far in our own experience of life before we find examples of men who have given way to passion and quickly gone under, even though perhaps they retained to the end some redeeming qualities.

Let us consider now the life of a good man of Strong Will. Is his life likely to be happy? Is he likely to win true success and to do good? Will he conquer in the battle of life? Will his life be useful and honorable?

Now I think we must answer “Yes” to each of these questions!

A strong-willed man faces his duties without shirking. He performs them well and fully. He is not afraid to be honest and truthful. He does not give way to his passions. He checks and controls them. He is not a pleasure-seeker, he avoids self-indulgence.

He is temperate, chaste, and self-controlled. He is faithful to his friends, and keeps his promises. He sacrifices himself for his Faith and his country. He is tenacious and persevering in carrying out his resolutions.

If he has some hard or painful duty to perform, he faces it calmly — he does not square his jaws, clench his teeth and hands, and furrow his brow with a diabolical frown like moving picture heroes. He knows the Will is not helped by grimaces.

But he goes straight towards his object, even though the road be rough, quietly, resolutely, and cheerfully. He knows his own power. He is confident and self-reliant. He is conscious of his influence over other men — for Strength of Will gives a certain masterfulness.

But for all that, he does not bully or override others, he respects others’ rights and feelings, and a quiet reasonableness characterizes his conduct. His mind is at peace for he is conscious that he does his duty. He plays his part fearlessly and fights on to the end, iron-willed – in his determination to win the battle of life and gain the victor’s crown.

Men of this strong-willed type are by no means rare. They are to be found in every town and village. Such are those men who do their duty to the end, in the face of supreme sacrifice.

“Tell my parents,” said a young French soldier dying before Verdun, “that I die happy. I have never failed to do my duty.”

“I have,” wrote a young Irish patriot to a friend, on the eve of his execution, “I have, thank God, no vain regrets. Whatever I have done, I have done as a soldier of Ireland in what I believed to be my country’s best interests.”

To such men, of resolute Will, death presents no great terror. They freely choose to live up to their ideals and they have the strength to do so.

To sum up this section. We have seen that life means warfare, and that it is a matter of supreme importance for us to arm ourselves with the best possible weapon, namely an efficient and strong Will.

We have considered the pitiful results that follow from weakness of Will in the life of the individual, and the happy results that follow from Strength of Will.

Granted these facts, it is for us to decide whether or not it is important for us to have Strong Wills.

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