I received this beautiful poem in an e-mail from my History and Systems professor, and thought it was definitely something that was worth sharing.
Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered,
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse of
Of selfish, ulterior motive,
Do good anyway.
If you are successful
You win false friends and true enemies,
Succeed anyway.
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spent years building
May be destroyed overnight,
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you
If you help them,
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and
You may get kicked in the teeth,
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
(From a sign on the wall of Sishu Bhavan,
the children’s home in Calcutta