Cleaning out the dusty basement is no fun except when you might unearth something almost forty years old that resembles someone's private diary. Whose is it? No signature! It's filled with lots of artwork, recipes, poems, personal stuff that still doesn't give away the owner. And then this poem entitled You Musn't Quit emerges. Hmm! Why did I find this diary today? Maybe for some mystical reason? Maybe by reprinting You Musn't Quit it will save some frustrated, beaten down person from throwing in the towel when there might still be chance to survive and later on thrive. Who said "It isn't over 'tlll the fat lady sings." Let's see if this poem has a mystical message that might just give someone the extra incentive to stay the course, strive for maybe a new goal, or just have a little more faith in themselves and their own ability to win the battle. So here it is: You Musn't Quit written by Anon.
When things go wrong as they sometimes will, and the road you're trudging seems all uphill - when the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile but you have to sigh, when care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must, but never quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns as every one of us sometimes learns. And many a failure turns about when he might have won had he held out. So don't give up though the pace seems slow. You may succeed with another blow. And often the blow is nearer then. It seems to a faint, faltering man often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the visitor's cup. And he learned too late when night slipped down, how close he was to the golden crown.
That's the end (or is it a beginning?) Oh, here's the name of the diary owner: Denise Boudrot. Thanks Denise!

Roland Hopkins is founder of The New England/New York Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.