Tuesday
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son! If | Rudyard Kipling
Last night, I dreamed I won the lottery. I waited the obligatory 180 days before coming forward to claim my prize during which time I met with my lawyers and a team of accountants. For some reason, I was being interviewed on TV. The interviewer asked if I thought my life would change. I realized then, how fortunate I was, that even a shit load of cash would not affect my life in the least.
I have always lived life on the road less travelled. Being different and having cognition around being different makes for a life that is not full of surprise visits from family and friends. You can go whole, entire weekends without ever parting your lips to utter a single word. The phone never rings and there is never anyone to call. I have never owned nor have I ever needed a day planner. People abruptly stop talking when you happen by or worse, they’re talking about you just as you enter in and you have heard every word they’ve said.
So the upside is now that I have all this money, I can pay my bills, move back to Manhattan and afford to live there and live the remainder of my days confident I will not be harassed or set upon by anyone calling themselves family or friend.
Living a life of principle based on reason is not the broad and spacious road. The world rewards its own; those whose greatest hope and highest aspiration is to be different, just like everybody else. There is safety in numbers, in not only thinking with the group, but like the group. While you may not be the most popular you’re not on the outside. You belong to the fratority where it’s safe. And let’s not forget the biggest benefit of all–the “fun” factor. Yep, yep, yep, it’s fun to be mean.
Popularity is people liking you…
You get to keep your job. Keeping your job means you get to pay your bills. Paying your bills means you get to create more bills, acquire stuff, send the kids to camp, keep in touch with mom and dad, lunch with your siblings. Own a dog. It’s good to fit in. It’s smart, too. People like you.
Happiness is you liking you
You’re not the Dixie Chicks, so you don’t receive death threats. People don’t yell out at your concerts “Shut up and sing!” They don’t run a steamroller over your CD’s. You’re not James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, so your badly beaten and shot bodies are not discovered in a ditch on the side of a dirt road in rural Mississippi. You’re not Tim Russert, so you don’t suddenly drop dead of a heart attack because of too much passion and too much joy, and too much overworked. (What a fortunate man he was. Why aren’t there ever any decent, principled people like him anywhere I always am)?
No. Your greatest ambition is to get invited to lunch with Mean People.
I stumbled across this blog post during blogroll this morning. It was just the reaffirmation I needed and I was filled with gratitude. This is you, too. So don’t keep it to yourself. Go ahead. Share the Moodz.
Courage is:
- Following your conscience instead of “following the crowd.”
- Refusing to take part in hurtful or disrespectful behaviors.
- Sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of others.
- Speaking your mind even though others don’t agree.
- Taking complete responsibility for your actions…and your mistakes.
- Following the rules – and insisting that others do the same.
- Challenging the status quo in search of better ways.
- Doing what you know is right – regardless of the risks and potential consequences
Source: http://drlill.com/
