Columns

There were some pretty good thunderstorms across south Louisiana on April 24, 1953 — the kind we see regularly when fronts slide through the area. Nobody suspected they were the beginning of a series of downpours that eventually sent every stream in south Louisiana way out of its banks.
Twelve people died as a direct result of the floods they caused. Damage was estimated at $35 million, second only to the harm brought to Louisiana by the great flood of 1927. The area between the Atchafalaya and Sabine rivers got the worst of it.

Excuses for failure are far more prevalent than affirmations to succeed. It takes less effort to be a naysayer than a discoverer of solutions. Too many people become experts at what won’t work. They have incontrovertible justifications to explain why success in not within their grasp. Any subsequent failure is used to prove their logic correct.

Let’s look at some commonly used rationale adopted by failure experts and why they don’t have to apply to you.

It’s not so easy

In days long gone by, when people thought we could shoot as many ducks as we could hit, and when they were in big demand at New Orleans restaurants, hundreds of sharpshooting market hunters earned a good living in the south Louisiana marshes.
People said Florine “Pie” Champagne was the best of them.
Pie was born Aug. 4, 1889. He was barely into his teens when people began to notice that he was a better shot than most grown men, and was earning a living with his shotgun by the time he was 17.