The first stanza of Edgar Guest’s poem See It Through reads,
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
The Honor Code tells us to have joy, to be sure, but it also says we are to have it in the face of difficulty. Well, that starts with actually facing our difficulties in the first place. It is tempting to avoid challenges, and obligations, and hardships—to run from them, like Jonah tried, or to look the other way like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan—rather than to face them and do what needs to be done. It never works—but don’t take my word for it: Just ask Jonah how his attempts at avoidance turned out. Facing our difficulties does not guarantee that everything will work out the way we want. But we still have to face them, one way or the other. As Robert Frost wrote in a similar spirit, “the best way out is always through.”
Have a wonderful day.
