I had a great first year and Mr. MacDonald was my biggest

The words of Jim Evans, “I had a great first year and Mr. MacDonald was my biggest supporter. He gave me the encouragement I needed that first year to get my career started on a positive note,” shine like a flame carried through the ages. They remind us that in the journey of life, the earliest steps are often the hardest, and it is the hand of another—extended with kindness and faith—that lifts us when our own legs tremble. Encouragement is no light thing; it is a seed placed in the soil of a soul, and if watered with trust and belief, it grows into strength unshakable.

In this simple utterance, we hear the eternal truth: no man becomes great in isolation. The beginning of any path—whether in craft, in learning, or in life—is fraught with doubt. It is then that the supporter appears, like a guardian sent by fate. Mr. MacDonald, to Jim Evans, was not merely a mentor but a builder of foundations. Without such encouragement, the young man might have faltered, his light dimmed before it could blaze. With it, he found the courage to persist, to strive, and to begin his life’s labor with confidence.

The ancients, too, spoke of such things. Alexander the Great, though destined for glory, was first a boy who wavered. It was Aristotle, his teacher, who instilled in him the fire of learning, the vision of philosophy, and the craft of thought. Without that guidance, Alexander’s sword might have been sharp, but his mind would have been dull. So too in Rome: the poet Virgil nurtured the vision of Augustus, shaping his sense of destiny through verse. Always, behind the man who rises, there stands another who whispered courage into his heart.

Let us not forget the story of Thomas Edison. When he was a boy, his schoolteacher declared him “addled” and unfit for learning. But his mother, in her steadfast belief, told him instead that he was destined for greatness. That encouragement became his strength, and through it he lit the world with invention. Here, as in the words of Jim Evans, we see the sacred power of a supporter’s voice—the power to transform weakness into resilience, doubt into certainty, and beginning into triumph.

The lesson here is clear and radiant: be like Mr. MacDonald. Do not withhold the gift of support when you see another struggling in the dawn of their journey. A single word of encouragement, spoken at the right moment, can alter the course of a life. We are not called merely to pursue our own victories; we are called to raise others, so that their victories, too, may shine. In this way, the world is not a battleground of rivals, but a fellowship of companions who rise together.

Practical wisdom demands that we act. If you are young upon your path, seek out the voices that lift rather than diminish you, for they are your hidden treasures. If you are further along, become such a voice for another: speak belief into their efforts, guide them when they stumble, and celebrate their smallest triumphs. Let your words become the soil in which another plants their roots. For as Evans remembers MacDonald, so too will someone one day remember you—not for your wealth, nor for your titles, but for the courage you awakened in them.

And so, let these words be carried into the hearts of all who hear them: Encouragement is a torch. Support is a shield. Belief is a gift that costs nothing but yields everything. To give it is to partake in eternity, for the fruits of such acts live on in the deeds of those who were lifted. Thus, let us live not as solitary seekers of greatness, but as bearers of one another’s flame. In this lies the highest wisdom and the deepest strength.