By Doyne Phillips,
Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine
The title is taken from Napoleon Hill’s 1934
classic Think and Grow Rich. This is a reference Hill used for Broadway, the
Great White Way. It is a reference I had never heard but can easily
understand. Those that succeeded found Broadway to be the “Front Porch of
Opportunity” while those that failed found it to be the “Graveyard of Dead
Hopes.”
Hill told of the struggle of Fannie
Hurst. Fannie came to New York City in 1911 after graduating from
Washington University in St. Louis in 1909. She came to pursue her writing and
quickly found her hope had grown dim. She labored by day as a waitress and
salesgirl and in her off hours she visited the ethnic areas of the city and
learned the people, their customs and their plight. She began to write about
them and submitting the stories to magazines. She had received thirty-six
rejection slips from the Saturday Evening Post before she
finally got a story published.
Fannie’s passion for the little people had come
through in her writing and this produced novels, plays, screenplays, short
stories and articles. It had been 4 years since she had arrived before she had
an article published but she pressed forward and made it happen. She was on her
way. Then in 1933, Hollywood came calling wanting to make a movie from her
best-know novel, Imitation of Life.
Napoleon Hill used Fannie Hurst as an example of
someone at the “Front Porch of Opportunity.”
Fannie never considered the
alternative “Graveyard of Dead Hopes”. Each of us must and will do the same. No
matter what the path we choose or what profession we pursue, at some point we
must stand and determine if we are at the “Front Porch of Opportunity” or if we
will give up our hopes and dreams and walk away. Do you think after thirty-six
rejections you could continue on? It will all depend on your persistence.
Napoleon Hill went on to say, “Broadway says
come and get it if you think you can take it”. Those that do take it––
rejection, hard work and little pay, very often end up making it.
Again persistence is a big part of this.
Today you may be at that
point of decision. You may be deciding if you are in the “Graveyard of Dead
Hopes” or at the “Front Porch of Opportunity”. Remember these opposing phrases
describe the same place. The only difference is the name given to them and only
you can decide. Have you been persistent in your endeavor? Have you pushed
beyond the thirty-six rejections? Have you come to the realization as Fannie
Hurst did that this isn’t easy but it is worth it?
My good friend Byrd
Baggett reminds us, “Don’t quit before the blessing”. Be persistent
and expect the best to come.
I feel a lot more people need to read this, very good info!
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