People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten to tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by
the smallest people with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
- by Dr. Kent M. Keith
We each live life any way we can. Yet any way is ranged between living life in mediocrity and greatness. Within this vast expanse are the options we choose from how we shall live life. Hence, measures the degree by which determines the quality of our life.
The demands of daily living can oftentimes obscure the importance of choosing by quality. Life in modernity is too fast that many things about our humanity are taken for granted. There is a constant sense of urgency in addressing the basic requirements of living that compromises the quality of choices we make to give life the best. But what is best?
We often associate best with ‘how much’ or ‘how much more’. Our culture is to accumulate; to get more the better. As we always say, “the more the merrier.” Thus we work to get rich. We work harder to get richer still. And to expect that some day, “we live happily ever after”. Only to find at the end we have actually lost those most precious in life.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten to tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by
the smallest people with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
- by Dr. Kent M. Keith
We each live life any way we can. Yet any way is ranged between living life in mediocrity and greatness. Within this vast expanse are the options we choose from how we shall live life. Hence, measures the degree by which determines the quality of our life.
The demands of daily living can oftentimes obscure the importance of choosing by quality. Life in modernity is too fast that many things about our humanity are taken for granted. There is a constant sense of urgency in addressing the basic requirements of living that compromises the quality of choices we make to give life the best. But what is best?
We often associate best with ‘how much’ or ‘how much more’. Our culture is to accumulate; to get more the better. As we always say, “the more the merrier.” Thus we work to get rich. We work harder to get richer still. And to expect that some day, “we live happily ever after”. Only to find at the end we have actually lost those most precious in life.
Working hard to get the life we wanted, as in get rich and successful, is very commendable. Afterall, it is what makes our world go round. Yes, even merrier! And it is not immoral to aspire for wealth. It is when we exclusively aspire for these at the expense of the most essential values in life such as loving, caring for others, making friends, being honest, fighting for what is right are what contradicts getting the most out of life. And missing out on what makes living sublime and meaningful can lead to a life of triviality and void.
Poverty, war and hatred are human tragedies that plague most of human society today. Yet these are not the greatest among tragedies that may harm anyone. These are but symptoms of an underlying cause— indifference.
Despite our age of awareness, advancement in education and intellectual pursuits we often choose to be indifferent to the valuable principles we have learned. We may have learned these academically yet we don’t have the courage to take up the challenge to actually live them. To ponder on these in written words, through the voice of the sages and as an inspiration is one thing, and to have them practice in reality is another. It could be quite a challenge to actually live these in a world filled with contradictions. And it is easier to be indifferent, to be uninvolved and detached as a means of self-preservation. We wouldn’t risk of anything of ourselves to stake for something altruistic and with a purpose beyond our personal interest.
Alas, the tragic story of people unprincipled, greedy and selfish! Their indifference had resulted to miserable lives characterized by tarnished reputation, lost of integrity, broken relationships and loneliness. At some point in each of our lives, we see ourselves partly in these situations. Perhaps not to a point of desperation and hopelessness, but no one is exempted from this plague. We however can always hope that the spirit within us will rise above this indifference.
Any way we live there is something inherent in us which longs for the sublime and the meaningful. There’ll be always a profound yearning in the human spirit to strive for what is good, assert what is right and fair, seek the truth and live life to the best we can. We may not often readily recognize the goodness in ourselves. Or perhaps we underestimate the capacity of the spirit within us to live the noble ideals that govern living life to the fullest and for us to be always at our best.
Poverty, war and hatred are human tragedies that plague most of human society today. Yet these are not the greatest among tragedies that may harm anyone. These are but symptoms of an underlying cause— indifference.
Despite our age of awareness, advancement in education and intellectual pursuits we often choose to be indifferent to the valuable principles we have learned. We may have learned these academically yet we don’t have the courage to take up the challenge to actually live them. To ponder on these in written words, through the voice of the sages and as an inspiration is one thing, and to have them practice in reality is another. It could be quite a challenge to actually live these in a world filled with contradictions. And it is easier to be indifferent, to be uninvolved and detached as a means of self-preservation. We wouldn’t risk of anything of ourselves to stake for something altruistic and with a purpose beyond our personal interest.
Alas, the tragic story of people unprincipled, greedy and selfish! Their indifference had resulted to miserable lives characterized by tarnished reputation, lost of integrity, broken relationships and loneliness. At some point in each of our lives, we see ourselves partly in these situations. Perhaps not to a point of desperation and hopelessness, but no one is exempted from this plague. We however can always hope that the spirit within us will rise above this indifference.
Any way we live there is something inherent in us which longs for the sublime and the meaningful. There’ll be always a profound yearning in the human spirit to strive for what is good, assert what is right and fair, seek the truth and live life to the best we can. We may not often readily recognize the goodness in ourselves. Or perhaps we underestimate the capacity of the spirit within us to live the noble ideals that govern living life to the fullest and for us to be always at our best.
Sooner or later we shall realize the need to yield to these noble ideals. We can no longer be indifferent. Some may yield to it sooner then have the chance to live more meaningful lives. Yet to others later when perhaps it is too late. No matter how difficult the process, it would be more than worth the effort to finally discover that true happiness lies in living our life beyond ourselves. And that giving and sharing is the ultimate purpose of our existence.
Any way we live life is up to each of us. Despite the challenges we face, amidst the drudgery and the seeming triviality of our existence, “we give it our best shot— anyway”.
Any way we live life is up to each of us. Despite the challenges we face, amidst the drudgery and the seeming triviality of our existence, “we give it our best shot— anyway”.
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