There was no room at the inn so to say, today, at our Trinity Methodist Church, Plumstead. Therefore we went to St Joseph’s Catholic Church instead. Father Jim Kirby was not there, but a visiting Father connected to the Columban Misssionaries, celebrated the mass. As we left the church, the Father handed me a copy of Far East – magazine of the Columban Missionaries. I turned the back of the magazine and saw what looked like a poem, titled “ANYWAY” - a version of Kent Keith’s “The Paradoxical COMMANDMENTS (1968); it is one of those things you are certain you know already, but you are glad that somebody else is saying it to you. I hope you like it as much as I love it:
THE PARADOXICAL COMMANDMENTS
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001
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