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.
I know I fall into the trap mind set of "what's the point?" all the time. I like this quote because it's also a good way to start the ball rolling on the right foot. It is totally true that when it comes down to the final day, the only important opinions of your actions are yours and God's; but also, if you are doing your best and putting all that good out there, there are going to be a lot of other people who will in turn offer you their best. I find myself in a regular debate with a friend about a certain relationship which doesn't seem to measure up. My friend feels betrayed by a family member and wants to punish the betrayer, which is totally understandable, but that is a relationship is long term, and there will be a lot of future interaction. It is more likely that forgiveness and kindness will bring about better reciprocal action than the alternative. My friend understands this, but it's more difficult in practice.
It makes me think about myself, and how often I "know" I should behave differently than I do. Last night, I was talking to another friend about our interactions with certain people. We are both fairly kind people and don't have many difficult interactions, but it is still a struggle sometimes. We each have a difficult person in our lives, and we always discuss (not in a gossipy way, just in an observational way) how they need to be more considerate of the people around them. But it makes me wonder who could be having a similar conversation about me...And it reminds me to make sure I'm living my life in a way that allows me to feel comfortable with the aftermath of my actions.
I feel like I've finally begun to accept that I am who I am, and people can take that or leave it, but I'm doing what I think is best for me. I still want people to like me, and I want to do what's right, but now I want to do things because I want to, and not because someone else expects me to. When dancing, I'm okay with saying "I'd rather not dance with you this song" or "It is not okay to treat me that way."
