Ambition (Day #1 of A to Z Blog Challenge)

Ambition.

The Oxford Dictionary online defines it as the "strong desire to do or achieve something."

As a child, tween and teen (okay, yes, even still as an adult) I was fascinated by Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. In "These Happy Golden Years", which is much more of a Teen/YA novel than a book for the juvenile level, Laura is home after being away teaching at her first school (the experience was actually rather dangerous, because the home she is staying in is run by a young woman who seems angry all of the time. There has been some speculation that it might have been post partum depression or even psychosis . . .)

Laura is back going to school herself in town. She has kept up by studying much as she could and is still at the head of her class . . . until she finds out about the composition she should have magically known about writing over the weekend. She writes it in five minutes during recess . . . and she'd never written a composition before!

Here it is:

"Ambition. Ambition is necessary to accomplishment. Without ambition to gain an end, nothing would be done. Without an ambition to excel others and to surpass one's self, there would be no superior merit. To win anything, we must have the ambition to do so.

Ambition is a good servant but a bad master. So long as we control our ambition, it is good, but if there is danger of our being ruled by it, then I would say in the words of Shakespeare, 'Crowmwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels.'" (pages 129-30)

Laura's teacher goes on to tell her that it grades 100% and that she should really write more compositions.

I was always sorry that Laura did not go on to higher schooling. Yes, growing up, I always thought it was so sweet and romantic that Laura and Almanzo (Al-MAN-zo, not Al-MON-zo) got married, and lived long lives together. However, I am so glad that she started writing her pieces for the Missouri Ruralist in the 1910s. She was always a good writer and seemed by all accounts to be a good student. It would have been great if she'd had the opportunity to go on for more schooling.

Just as a note, I have been working on my genealogy for 13 years now, and LIW is my eighth cousin seven times removed through her father's side of the "tree."

If you are still reading this, today is the day of my first 5K race! It was supposed to be March 18, but actually cancelled due to lightning in the area, some flooding, and location of the race (in proximity to a fairly busy road - people around here are not good drivers in rainy weather. . .)

Running in an actual race has been an ambition of mine for the last year and a half.
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ADDITION: I have run my very first 5k race and I finished, did not come in last, and beat my own practice times. I came in at 257th place out of 292 participants, and came in 18th place out of 20 for my age group (Female 35-39.) I took my mile down to 13.1 minutes (from 13.8 which is my regular), and finished in the time I wanted to finish . . . under 41 minutes. I finished in 40 minutes and 41 seconds! Here is a photo of me before the race: