I met him(we're friends--read 12/7/06)
I just couldn't remember why I knew his story. Dr. Kent Keith is the author of the Paradoxical Commandments--the do it anyway sayings. He wrote this pamplet in 1968 at college when he was 19 and didn't think about it again. In 1997 he found out that people all over the world had put it on bookmarks and posters, etc. Mother Teresa had a poster with it hanging on her wall. People attributed the sayings with Mother Teresa, but not so. I just went back and read my old posts--Dec. 7, it was the Roches who told me the story. He was a very nice fellow and he gave away bookmarks with the saying on it, so I stopped by his booth at the PTA convention to get a book mark. I wish I had remembered that I knew his story from the Roches--I would have had a conversation with him. He looked kind of bored sitting at that booth giving away the gems he wrote when he was 19.
He was the keynote speaker for the PTA convention. He told a very cute story about his wife of 30 years. She really gives meaning to his life, but she is great at keeping him centered and grounded too. One time they were at a friends pool party and they sat on a love seat after getting out of the pool. His wife looked him in the eyes and he felt that she touched his soul--he'd never felt so connected to another human being. As he went to embrace her, she said, don't move, I'm checking my mascara in the reflection of your sunglasses.
The Paradoxical Commandments are:
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 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.
Kent M. Keith 1968, 2001.
MJ, this is for you.
He was the keynote speaker for the PTA convention. He told a very cute story about his wife of 30 years. She really gives meaning to his life, but she is great at keeping him centered and grounded too. One time they were at a friends pool party and they sat on a love seat after getting out of the pool. His wife looked him in the eyes and he felt that she touched his soul--he'd never felt so connected to another human being. As he went to embrace her, she said, don't move, I'm checking my mascara in the reflection of your sunglasses.
The Paradoxical Commandments are:
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 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.
Kent M. Keith 1968, 2001.
MJ, this is for you.
posted by KathrynVH @ 11:23 AM
2 Comments:
At May 6, 2007 at 6:54 PM,
Anonymous said…
I like those Commamdments they are in keeping with doing acts of kindness even though nobody is looking. It is understandable why they are popular with certain people.
At May 8, 2007 at 7:06 AM,
Sean M. said…
Yeah, I remembered that post you wrote back then. I still like those Commandments, no matter who wrote them. I remember we had a poster in the front office of my elementary school that had at the bottom "Atributed to Mother Teresa." Now it is good to know the true author, but that doesn't diminish Mother Teresa by any means.
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