It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It's a different song when everything's wrong,
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
Carry on! Carry on!
There isn't much punch in your blow.
You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You're muddy and bloody, but never you mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
You haven't the ghost of a show.
It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!
And so in the strife of the battle of life
It's easy to fight when you're winning;
It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there's the man of God's choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven's own height
Is the man who can fight when he's losing.
Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looming so black.
But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It's looking like hell, but -- you never can tell:
Carry on, old man! Carry on!
There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labour with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there's the real sunshine of living.
Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer;
There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be the better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!
— Robert William Service, Carry On
Fighting the good fight when the promise of victory is slim is one of the best ways to confirm that it was the goodness of the fight that drew you up to your full height and not the desire to fight.
"The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it." — G.K. Chesterton
You get a glimpse of your true grit when you're up against it. Can you fight for the sake of the thing even if that means going down with it. Would you rather die on a hill worth taking or survive in a valley not worth having?
Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity,
thy strength is small.
Friction is a given. What will you do when it gets hard? How will you respond when strength is required? It is one thing to be strong when weakness would just as well do. But it is another to be strong when strength is needed.
"Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. To be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." — Martin Luther
Being based at basic training doesn't matter if you curl up in a ball in a real battle. Show muscles don't move couches. They might look good in a picture, but they don't show up when something heavy needs to be moved.
"Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man." — Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Suffer like a man. Don't complain or kick at the goads. If God is driving you somewhere, go willingly. Christ is King, so come along quietly.
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