Do It Anyway

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 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 try hard to be kind and supportive. I try to be encouraging and helpful. I try to be patient and understanding.

I try.

And sometimes for all the good I try to do, I get kicked in the teeth. People will spit in  your eye no matter how kind and helpful and supportive you might be. I've seen it. I've felt it.

When that happens I try to not judge and not take it personally. Every one of us has stuff.  Not one of us is perfect. 

But sometimes it makes me mad. Sometimes there is this instant reaction. "Well f*** you then! I don't need this shit. You know there are people out there that would appreciate me. I'll just walk away, throw in the towel, give up. Idiots! Can't see a good thing if it bit them in the ass!"

But eventually I begin to calm down. My feelings may still be a little hurt but I start thinking about those words written on the wall of Mother Teresa's hut in Calcutta.

I'm no saint but I try.

It was the day my father died that I realized how isolated we are and blind to those that surrounds us.

That morning I sat in a hospital room and held his hand. That afternoon I held my children as I told them that Grandpa was gone. That evening I walked through the store to buy a birthday cake.

I was in the midst of a sea of humanity, bumping and rushing around me. My grief was mine alone. No one could see my broken heart. All they could see was the dinner time rush.

That was the moment that I realized,  just as they couldn't see me, I couldn't see them. I had no idea of the stories, the emotions, the troubles. I had no idea why they might do the things they do.

Everyone of us is the star of our own play. All those people that walk in and out of our lives are just supporting actors. We cast them in roles and get upset when they don't behave the way we expect them to. But to them, we are sidekicks, we are disposable, we are the supporting characters that aren't following the script.

So I try. I try to be patient. I try to see the bigger picture. I try to let people play their own parts and give up my expectations.

Some days I am self-centered, illogical and unreasonable. Some days I am unkind. Some days I don't feel like trying anymore.  Some days the jealousy and the cheating, the lies and the destruction wear me down and I don't feel like giving my best anymore.

Sometimes my kind heart and forgiving nature are beaten down until I have nothing left to give.

But I remember those words and I Do It Anyway.

Because in the end whether I do good or I don't, whether I forgive or hold onto anger, whether I succeed or I fail, not one of Them ever really saw Me anyway.