“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.” – Mother Teresa
there is very little in life that is not addressed in the above, and it has been one of my favorite quotes for many years.
i spent a good deal of my life avoiding anything that even remotely looked like it might hurt me. indeed, i avoided quite a lot of things just on the suspicion that it might eventually do so. wasted time, really. the above quote was one of several that set me on the path of doing differently.
i find over time that the above quote is really very sage, both in its warning as well as its advice. there are times when i am very hurt by events, or things people say or do, and the temptation to just pull back, pull in, and put everything to a screeching halt is very intense.
but i remember this quote, and others, and i remember as well that while it may be a risk to do a thing, there will never be anything other than stillness, silence, and stagnation as the outcome for choosing to do nothing.
i would rather fall over my own feet repeatedly and eternally than to never again take a step.