Well. There you are. At a party. Everyone is milling around and moving from circle to circle. You are with a small group of friends, and Theobald walks up and begins talking. He then leaves, and Cornelia says….
“Oh my goodness. HE was the LAST person on earth I wanted to see.”
It always makes me wonder when people say things like. How does Cornelia know? I mean. Has she met every single person on this planet? My guess is… there are plenty of people out there she would rather NOT run into… other than Theobald. Like… that really bad Mexican Crime Lord… or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi… or Charles Manson… or those types. Just guessing.
It is a big dang world out there. We can’t know every nook and cranny. Sometimes it is hard to know what is going on in our little corner of that big world. Let alone, the whole big wide of it.
It is so big, in fact… and …… all we can only really know ourselves. We can only change ourselves. Sometimes. I contemplate what I am doing to make this place better. Is it enough. Should I be on a different path? Am I getting it right? So much comes into play… past, present, and future.
Unfortunately, no one is going to write me a letter telling me such things. So tonight, I am reminded of the verse which is mostly credited to Mother Theresa.
Truth of the matter, a guy from Harvard wrote this thing. Kent M. Keith. He called it the “Paradoxical Commandments.
And Mother Theresa called hers the “Final Analysis”
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
…Forgive them anyway!
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
…Be kind anyway!
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
…Succeed anyway!
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
…Be honest and frank anyway!
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
…Build anyway!
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
…Be happy anyway!
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
…Do good anyway!
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
…Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Give the world the best you have.
And. It may never be enough.
Give the world the best you got anyway.
I need to tattoo this on the inside of my eyelids.
Second thought on that…. A big NOPE. That would hurt like a mother … that kind of tattoo. Theobald AND Cornelia would be trash-talking me at the next party. Maybe I’ll just write it down and keep it in my pocket.
Anyway. Seriously.
It is a pretty good suggestion for all of us, I think.
Give the world the best you have. Even though it may not be “enough” …. or perhaps, just seem that way. No matter. Do it anyway. We need to be us. … giving the best we can anyway.
Because. It is the right thing to do.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein