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.
Written by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
I love this so much, it's on my refrigerator so I can see it every day. Every day there's some challenge that this helps with.
Here's my attempt of a verse for a special friend:
If you try to open your students' minds,
Some will be afraid of what their children will do with
new knowledge.
Open their minds anyway.
Support the teachers you know. Especially the great ones. It takes a village to raise a child and we all know that villages are made of individuals of many different beliefs. I try to not be afraid, but I am afraid, very afraid of people who want to limit what children are taught to their own limited world views. No knowledge, no love, no acceptance, no peace. Know knowledge, know love, know acceptance, know peace.
If you can think of more verses for the Mother Theresa poem, please add them to comments.
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4 comments:
Thank you. Once again you brought me to tears.
Thank you.
I'm not sure it's a good thing if I keep doing that! I often think that if I could just keep this poem in mind all day, every day, I'd live a very good life, no matter what life throws my way.
I LOVE this poem. Crying is good--it might save my teeth from being ground down. Just so weary. I think it just hit at a tiring time, otherwise . . .then again . . .it has been going on for almost three weeks. Gotta tell your daughter to take hers out of draft and post it. :-) When she is ready-she may not want to know. Rog said I have to be ready for Advertiser onslaught. Ah. I love my job, I love my job.
Hank would say, "No good deed goes unpunished." I guess it's a dangerous time for daring to teach teenagers. There are many more of us that are extremely grateful that our children get to spend their time in a classroom with you than those who are disgruntled. I, for one, think your class is one of the most meaningful classes my kids have ever and will ever get to take.
So, I guess you're really involved in this year's "Do I dare disturb the universe?" unit! Keep the faith!
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