Success is what we all want. People have, from the nadir of uncompromising situations and environments, climbed to the zenith of success. The key to success is ENDEAVOR.
One may sympathize and take sides with one's ownself, "Oh look, I'm just not the type for success. I haven't got the brains and besides I'm too shy." By harboring such thoughts one is adding fuel to a life of frustration and constant envy for successful living. Most of us however have had a better launching pad when we started our life's odyssey compared to that of G.B. Shaw. Dale Carnegie writes, "George was too shy to call on his friends, but he became the most brilliant speaker of his age."
George was born in Ireland. His family was poor and this affected the schooling of George. He completed only five years of schooling. At sixteen he got a job as a cashier. Four years passed by. The monotony at work created a sense of disinterest. At 20 George said, "I have only one life and I am not going to spend it an office desk." George packed up his baggage and took the road to London. He wanted to give meaning to his life and thus began the long journey to success.
He wanted to become a writer. Every day he made it a rule to write five pages and this he maintained for nine years. Regardless of moods he persisted in his arduous pursuit for mastery. His temperament however was not encouraging to his aspirations. He was extremely shy and a cloud of inferiority complex always hovered in the uppermost of his mind. One evening he decided to call upon his friends living near the River Thames. But out of shyness and the lack of taking initiatives he questioned himself, "Should I go? Will I be disturbing them?" In this state of mind, he spent twenty minutes walking up and down the banks of the Thames before venturing a knock at the door. To overcome this handicap, he made a firm decision to involve himself in debates. He joined a debating society and made it a point to speak up on the topic of discussion. Mustering up all his energy, each night he stood at street corners or in public halls debating with the speakers. George was becoming a spirited man, but even a man of courage loses half his strength in what others have to say about him. But George tossed off the insults and adverse opinions people expressed to him. His persistence made him into one of the best orators of his age. Literary extravaganzas like Pygmalion, Androcles and the Lion and others bear testimony to his brilliance. Shaw helped to reshape the stage of his time. His bold, analytical intelligence and sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues, helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. He received the 1925 Nobel Prize in literature.
George was a pious man and a pacifist by nature. He was a strict vegetarian and a man of zeal. His saga of success was due to his unrelenting zeal and a firm will in attaining his goal. To have objectives is a part of life but to live up to them is what life is all about. George Bernard Shaw had lived up to his objectives and so his life became a lesson of inspiration in the textbooks of history.

Sadhu Vivekjivandas