As the story goes, a group of refugees was about to flee a war zone by hiking over some of the most rugged terrain in their country.  As they were about to leave, they were approached by a frail, old man and a sickly mother who carried an infant.  The leaders of the group agreed to take them along with the understanding that the men would take turns carrying the baby, but that the mother and the old man would have to make it on their own.

Several days into the journey the old man fell to the ground, saying he was too exhausted to continue and pleaded to be left behind to die.  Facing the harsh reality of the situation, the leaders of the group reluctantly decided to do just that and started on their way.

Suddenly the young mother placed her baby in the old man's arms, told him that it was his turn to carry the child and walked away with the group.  It was several minutes before she allowed herself to look back, but when she did, she saw the old man stumbling along the trail with the child in his arms.

This story shows that whenever a human being is given a new purpose in life, along with the goal comes a wellspring of strength, courage and persistence - often where none of these existed before.

People who are too tired, discouraged or fearful to go on are often suffering from a deficiency in motivation, which is to say they've either lost sight of their purpose in life or need to find a new one.

If we look around, we can find many goals in our lives, and with each of these goals comes all of the energy, courage, creativity and stamina necessary to reach it.  It was fortunate for the old man in our story that the new purpose found him, but it is rare for anyone to be so fortunate.  After all, a life does depend on it.

Joseph P. Klock