I wish to be useful

[B9]

Nathan Hale embarked on an espionage mission into New York as a volunteer.
Before leaving he said....

"I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary award; I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claims to perform that service are imperious."

Captain Hale was captured by the British, convicted as a spy and went to the gallows on September 22, 1776.

[U.S.Cavalryman]

My take on the Moral of the Story is if you are capable, do it, otherwise someone who is maybe less capable will have to pull the slack for you, or it may not happen at all. 

[B9]

My take on the Moral of the Story is if you are capable, do it, otherwise someone who is maybe less capable will have to pull the slack for you, or it may not happen at all. 

Right on the money.

Dedication was not enough. Captain Hale had no training experience, no contacts in New York, no channels of communication, and no cover story to explain his absence from camp--only his Yale diploma supported his contention that he was a "Dutch schoolmaster."

[MeanStreaker]

... if you are capable, do it, otherwise someone who is maybe less capable will have to pull the slack for you, or it may not happen at all. 

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Edmund Burke:

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."