New Year's Resolution
Success
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-Bessie Stanley, NOT Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why are her standards so low?
Why must only one life breathe easier because I live?
Why not all lives I know?
Why must we so often leave the people we come into contact with, and even our own friends, worse off for knowing us?
My resolution is to change this about myself.
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-Bessie Stanley, NOT Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why are her standards so low?
Why must only one life breathe easier because I live?
Why not all lives I know?
Why must we so often leave the people we come into contact with, and even our own friends, worse off for knowing us?
My resolution is to change this about myself.