Name: ______________________________________  Subject: _______________________ Date: _______

    STRENGTH

   I, your Computer, a puny little machine, without powerful blades, without overwhelming wheels, without rending claws. I, made out of ​​tiny printed circuits, what can I tell you about strength? Let one of those awesome tanks tell you about it. And yet, I think I would be able to master even the most powerful machine, if I would be purposefully installed and programmed to do just that. My strength is not in my appearance.    Are you understanding what I am saying? I speak of the strength that the human person can have, by virtue of just being a person; of the strength that lies in your head and in your heart.    Right away, let me tell you that the strength found in humans depends on two things: on their ideals and their decision to support them. Not all ideals come true, but all the great realities began by being young ideals. Just take a look at History.    When you have high ideals, strength becomes the engine that drives you to go after them. A person without ideals becomes paralyzed, and lives as if under anesthesia.     Want to know more about strength?       Strength is "to resist" and not give in to harmful influences, "to endure" inconveniences, "to overcome" difficulties with courage and "to pursue" major enterprises.        Strength, in short, is to have the willpower to do, at all times, that which is a must.    Remember these three words:    Resist.    Win.    Pursue.    We are influenced by our own tendencies (laziness, vanity, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, whims) as well as by external influences (fashion, consumerism, ideologies). We must resist against all this. We must refuse to be like clay and be manipulated by the hands of others or by one's instincts.        We must energetically overcome harmful tendencies or impulses. We must at least fight to win without being discouraged by defeats. Strength is often the need to restart.    The largest enterprise that we can ever undertake from a young age is to do the little things well each and every day. This is a necessary step towards achieving greater things, if time allows us to undertake them. The perfection of a person is already a good enough goal worth fighting for.    In order to gain strength, I invite you to:    - Do not complain about work, little pains, or setbacks. Being silent in these cases is a good exercise to train strength.    - Do not delegate your duties to your parents or to others. Do it yourself.    - Do not run away from effort. Confront it and accept it.    - Establish a schedule for your habitual duties and follow it.    - Fight against your bad tendencies, without getting discouraged.    - Set goals that can perfect your life.    Do not forget that strength is a motor of all the other virtues.    A comfortable life, one without restraint, without effort, without struggles, ends up being a useless life; like a manipulated mud for the doings of evil. You do not want this life for yourself.  

    Don Samuel Valero

Instructions: In the comprehension test circle one of the following letters: a, b, c.