Anyway

One of my pet peeves is having to deal with stupid people. Rude people irritate me to no end. Fortunately or unfortunately, it's not likely that I'll be able to walk away from those types of people, nor will they quit appearing in my life. I consider myself to be fair and patient with most folks. Sadly, that fairness and patience sometimes goes out the window, and I find myself struggling to not be sarcastic and biting.

I love this passage. It's called "The Paradoxical Commandments". Often attributed to Mother Teresa, it was actually part of a booklet by Kent Keith, titled "The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council".

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.

Love 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 true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.

Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Maybe I need to go back to school.

Pray Hard

If I have any readers left at all, just wanted to let you know I'm still here! Things have been a bit crazy for the last couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll get back on track soon.

I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of the 24 hour news channels, like CNN and Fox News. Aside from the fact that they tend to repeat stories ad nauseum (because seriously, how much news happens within a 24 hour period?), most of the daily news is, well, depressing. And in the grand scheme of things, there's not a whole lot that most of us can do except continue with our day-to-day lives.

Take, for example, the economy. It stinks right now. Some call it a "downturn". Others, a "recession". Most of us don't care what it's called. We just know that prices are higher than they used to be, and more people are out of work.

In our family, we're more frugal than we used to be. We put off purchases, try to spend our income more wisely. Which, in any economy, is really a good thing. We are spending more time at home. For example, Friday nights have become family movie night. Microwave popcorn and a movie from Blockbuster are a great way to spend time together without leaving the house and dropping about forty bucks! AND you can talk and laugh during the movie without fear of offending fellow viewers. And it doesn't hurt that you can pause when you have to, ahem, use the facilities. :)

But what about these politicians and media outlets that warn us of impending doom? Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm not concerned about the state of things. I just don't think it does any good to get all freaked out and worried when I'm really doing what I need to be doing. I'm watching my pennies. And praying. Prayer always helps.

Maybe if our elected officials did a bit more praying they wouldn't feel the need to spend money to save the economy.

Dearest Lord,
In these times of uncertainty, You are here.
In the times of plenty, You are here.
Remind us again, that nothing has really changed.
You are still here.
And we are still here.
And that, as always, is good.

Enthusiastically,