We do not know what events might have been responsible for her above quote. But we do know that her first fiancé died in World War I about two months after becoming engaged in mid-1918. Her first marriage, in 1922, dissolved within three months because of an alcoholic and abusive husband. And she had to resign her writing job with The Atlanta Journal in 1926 because of an ankle injury that refused to heal.
However, Margaret Mitchell endured and, after 10 years of work, she wrote and published “Gone With The Wind” in 1936. Her one and only book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937, a masterpiece that became one of the best-selling books of all time, with more than 30 million copies sold world-wide. In two Harris polls, one in 2008 and another in 2014, “Gone With The Wind” ranked as the second favorite book by American readers – just behind the Bible.
Margaret Mitchell lived a life that was the epitome of her quote. And yet she pressed on despite the hardships she faced. Perhaps her gift was not so much having the talent to become a world-famous author as it was having the courage to keep moving forward despite her challenges. Perhaps so it should be with all of us. And I do mean all of us!
Born exactly 122 years ago this month, Margaret Mitchell was tragically killed by an impaired driver while she was walking across Peachtree Street in Atlanta, five days before her 49thbirthday.
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