{"id":14752,"date":"2011-12-25T00:20:43","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T07:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/?p=14752"},"modified":"2010-12-26T10:21:04","modified_gmt":"2010-12-26T17:21:04","slug":"a-christmas-gift-for-my-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/a-christmas-gift-for-my-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Gift for My Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"LewRockwell<\/a> | It\u2019s Christmas, and I have the usual problem of deciding what to give you. I know you might enjoy many things \u2013 books, games, clothes.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m very selfish. I want to give you something that will stay with you for more than a few months or years. I want to give you a gift that might remind you of me every Christmas.<\/p>\n

If I could give you just one thing, I\u2019d want it to be a simple truth that took me many years to learn. If you learn it now, it may enrich your life in hundreds of ways. And it may save your having to face many problems that have hurt people who\u2019ve never learned it.<\/p>\n

The truth is simply this:<\/p>\n

No one owes you anything.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/strong><\/p>\n

How could such a simple statement be important? It may not seem so, but understanding it can bless your entire life.<\/p>\n

No one owes you anything.<\/p>\n

It means that no one else is living for you, my child. Because no one is you. Each person is living for himself; his own happiness is all he can ever personally feel.<\/p>\n

When you realize that no one owes you happiness or anything else, you\u2019ll be freed from expecting what isn\u2019t likely to be.<\/p>\n

It means no one has to love you. If someone loves you, it\u2019s because there\u2019s something special about you that gives him happiness. Find out what that something special is and try to make it stronger in you, so that you\u2019ll be loved even more.<\/p>\n

When people do things for you, it\u2019s because they want to \u2013 because you, in some way, give them something meaningful that makes them want to please you, not because anyone owes you anything.<\/p>\n

No one has to like you. If your friends want to be with you, it\u2019s not out of duty. Find out what makes others happy so they\u2019ll want to be near you.<\/p>\n

No one has to respect you. Some people may even be unkind to you. But once you realize that people don\u2019t have to be good to you, and may not be good to you, you\u2019ll learn to avoid those who would harm you. For you don\u2019t owe them anything either.<\/p>\n

Living your Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one owes you anything.<\/p>\n

You owe it to yourself to be the best person possible. Because if you are, others will want to be with you, want to provide you with the things you want in exchange for what you\u2019re giving to them.<\/p>\n

Some people will choose not to be with you for reasons that have nothing to do with you. When that happens, look elsewhere for the relationships you want. Don\u2019t make someone else\u2019s problem your problem.<\/p>\n

Once you learn that you must earn the love and respect of others, you\u2019ll never expect the impossible and you won\u2019t be disappointed. Others don\u2019t have to share their property with you, nor their feelings or thoughts.<\/p>\n

If they do, it\u2019s because you\u2019ve earned these things. And you have every reason to be proud of the love you receive, your friends\u2019 respect, the property you\u2019ve earned. But don\u2019t ever take them for granted. If you do, you could lose them. They\u2019re not yours by right; you must always earn them.
\n
\nMy experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

A great burden was lifted from my shoulders the day I realized that no one owes me anything. For so long as I\u2019d thought there were things I was entitled to, I\u2019d been wearing myself out \u2013 physically and emotionally \u2013 trying to collect them.<\/p>\n

No one owes me moral conduct, respect, friendship, love, courtesy, or intelligence. And once I recognized that, all my relationships became far more satisfying. I\u2019ve focused on being with people who want to do the things I want them to do.<\/p>\n

That understanding has served me well with friends, business associates, lovers, sales prospects, and strangers. It constantly reminds me that I can get what I want only if I can enter the other person\u2019s world. I must try to understand how he thinks, what he believes to be important, what he wants. Only then can I appeal to someone in ways that will bring me what I want.<\/p>\n

And only then can I tell whether I really want to be involved with someone. And I can save the important relationships for those with whom I have the most in common.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy to sum up in a few words what has taken me years to learn. But maybe if you re-read this gift each Christmas, the meaning will become a little clearer every year.<\/p>\n

I hope so, for I want more than anything else for you to understand this simple truth that can set you free.<\/p>\n


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LewRockwell | It\u2019s Christmas, and I have the usual problem of deciding what to give you. I know you might enjoy many things \u2013 books, games, clothes. But I\u2019m very selfish. I want to give you something that will stay with you for more than a few months or years. I want to give you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}