A MASTERPIECE

"Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world...if you do so, you are insulting yourself." - Bill Gates

Do you know that, it's just you? You don't have a copy; or spare. It's a remarkable, "in-duplicatable", and miraculous thing it is to be you. Of all the people who have come, gone and will still come on the earth, since the beginning of time, there's not ONE that is like YOU.

No one who has ever lived or is to come has had your combination of abilities, talents, appearance, friends, acquaintances, burdens, sorrows and opportunities. No one’s hair grows exactly the way yours does. No one’s finger prints are like yours. No one has the same combination of secret inside jokes and family expressions that you know. The few people who laugh at all the same things you do, don’t sneeze the way you do. No one prays about exactly the same concerns as you do. No one is loved by the same combination of people that love you – NO ONE!

No one before, no one to come. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE! You're like you're creator; there is none like or beside you. You're not just Unique, you're a WONDER. Enjoy this uniqueness. You do not have to pretend in order to seem more like someone else. You weren’t meant to be like someone else. You do not have to lie to conceal the parts of you that are not like what you see in anyone else.

LEAVE IT UNDONE

"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." - Lin Yutang

 

How frequently have you ever heard about being able to leave "certain" things undone. In other words, understanding that we aren't supposed to do everything. As a matter of fact someone said long ago that, "show me a man who wants to please everybody and I'll show you a man who wants to fail". Attempting to do everything is a life lived in futility.

Confucius said once, "Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage." There are things once done, that can't be undone. Yes, we should only put off until tomorrow what we are willing to die without doing. The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.

Here's a poem:

WARPED PHILOSOPHIES

“There is a philosophy which is vain and deceitful, which is prejudicial to religion, and sets up the wisdom of man in competition with the wisdom of God, and while it pleases man’s fantasies ruins their faith; as nice and curious speculations about things above us, or of no use and concern to us; or a care of words and terms of art, which have only an empty and often a cheating appearance of knowledge.” – Matthew Henry

Yes, reading philosophy could have a negative impact on the life of a person. When people talk about nurture effects and the environment, they always think of what parents say and do directly to their children. It never occurs to them to think of the books children read that don't have violent or sexual content.

In 1980, Teruyoshi Fukunaga founded the Japanese cult called "Ho No Hana Sanpogyo". It was commonly called the "foot reading cult" because he conspired with senior disciples to "diagnose" problems of new adherents, mostly middle-aged housewives, by reading the soles of their feet and then urging them to attend costly seminars to cure their supposed ailments such as cancer. Soon Fukunaga claimed he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and the Buddha.

BEFORE A FALL

“Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.” – John Ruskin

 

Pride is a prison; it can creep into a man's heart and blind him from even a shadow of humility. Pride does not take into account the righteousness or the spiritual worth of the decision or choice but for selfish gains. It does not consider the ill effects upon those, from whom, it will be required.

James Anthony Traficant, Jr. was a former Democratic politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He was expelled after being convicted of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and houseboat in Washington, D.C. During his federal trial, although he's not a lawyer, Traficant defended himself but he did not testify. His self-defense led to frequent clashes with the judge over what questions might be asked and how. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and released on September 2, 2009, after serving a seven-year sentence. Traficant was a proud and arrogant politician before his imprisonment. His incarceration did not change his attitude. Upon his release, he said he was "proud of being an ex-con" and may try to return to Congress.

TIME & PLACE, JUST RIGHT

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I didn’t notice the hardness of the pew where I sat. I was at the funeral of my dearest friend - Mother. She lost the long battle with cancer. The hurt was so intense. Always supportive, mother clapped loudest at my school plays, comforted me at my father’s death, and prayed for me my entire life. When mother’s illness was diagnosed, my sister had a new baby, my brother had recently married his childhood sweetheart, so it fell on me, the middle child without entanglements, to take care of her. I was an honour.

“What now, Lord?” I asked. My life stretched out before me. My brother sat staring toward the cross while clutching his wife’s hand. My sister sat slumped against her husband’s shoulder, his arms around her as she cradled their child. No one noticed I sat alone. My place had been with our mother, doing everything to and with her; now she was gone. My work was finished, I was alone.