WHATEVER YOU ARE - BE A GOOD ONE

Many times have I heard this from young boys and girls raving that things aren’t working at all or are not what they hoped for. They feel that they’ve come up to a huge blank wall --- stuck with problems about jobs, studies, relationships, and other odd things life throws their way each day. Like the magic word is somewhere out there yet so well hidden --- but if they finally get to find it --everything will be alright or so they think. But will it? Because if it’s like that then I, their parents, and other older people generations before them would have found that ‘magic’ and subsequently enjoyed Utopia in our lives, then and now.

But it’s not out there, no! So ‘want to know where to find it? Then listen and listen well.

We seem to be such shortsighted people with ‘out there’ minds. We can’t see the trees for the forest or vice versa whichever applies. It’s always that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It’s always that the big break, chance, opportunity is ‘out there’ with some other guy. Well maybe it works that way for some. They go ‘out there’ and come home with their prize. But to a languishing many it doesn’t happen that way at all -- And thus this 'self-bashing' because they don’t get it whatever-it-is.

We often are perceived to be or seen to undervalue what we have – what we are – who we are. Why? – so why is it so hard to appreciate ‘self’? Why do we think so small of ourselves and so highly of others whose talents appear much the same as ours anyway (or ours even better)? I posed this question to one kid who believed that he didn’t have it to make it – “Do those talents (you have) look better wearing his face and not yours?” It drew a big blank stare from him. Oh boy, it’s the same old crap – selling one’s self short. “Well, kid, you better kick this odd habit fast or soon enough you’ll find yourself truly short of a lot of good things in your life.”

Now then if this ‘you’ isn’t straightened out at the onset, it easily follows that the following results will image what the ‘you’ has put into it.

Say do you really truly know yourself? Do you know your own strengths and weaknesses? How do you behave under stress or in failure? How do you motivate yourself to keep on pushing under fire where there’s no one to do the pushing for you? How excellent (or mediocre) is your people quotient? How do you handle praise or success as you move up the ladder? How do you resolutely (or sluggishly) work at an obstacle staring you down hard in the eye? How do you hone up on your skills or train for that big fat break you’re so hoping for and which surely will come one day?

Whatever your answers will be to that -- will show you who you are. And what you see in you – raw in some parts or polished in others - is what you should work at first.

Whether you are ---a student working at good grades, a clerk toiling with stacks of paperwork, a service crew wiping kitchen tables, a bus boy or other things you find yourself in or doing --- be good in it. Always be good at what you do, up there or at the bottom rank. Be the best of what you are or what you can be. This phrase was originally said in a different way, but for us it is --- “there are no small jobs but small minds”. You know what this means.

It’s simple. It connects one to the other. A good man, employee, or student puts in his best performance in every undertaking at all times. A good attitude or character will positively attract and open up opportunities and doors – the same doors that would be closed to men and women of lesser minds and warped attitudes. Everybody likes and loves a good job, a good guy. It's the good sales person that creates good sales, it's the good teacher that shapes good minds, it's the good mother that raises good children, it's the good cop that delivers the law fairly, it's the good doctor great at his/her craft who treats patients without unnecessary frills or fuss, it's the good waiter who makes you satisfied and want to come back for more, it's the good carpenter who builds a sturdy house, it's the good bus driver aware of the safety of his passengers who drives carefully, and more. It's always the good job done by a good person that makes the mark and finishes the race and wins the prize. It's always the good job and the good person who gets genuinely noticed and admired and emulated. It's the good person who blazes new trails and inspires others to follow. So be that good guy, whoever you are whatever you are. The good always wins where it matters most, no doubt. Open your eyes, mind, and heart and see how that works in good men and women around you.

Abraham Lincoln has this to say.......

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

The magic is not out there, no! It’s in here ---- the magic is in you. Believe in yourself, in your potential, in what you are and in what God-given talents you have. It’s there for a sure definite purpose – that is to help take you to your dreams. All you need to do is harness and use it. And you’ll surely get there!

Have a good night, people. May God fill your hearts with peace, joy, and contentment. God bless you and your family. :-)

posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 6:17 PM