Self-Reliance

Every man must carry his own sack to the mill.

Three men are my friends---he that loves me, he that hates me and he that is indifferent to  me. Who loves me, teaches  me  tenderness; who hates me, teaches caution; who is indifferent teaches me self-reliance. Love for oneself is the foundation of a brotherly society and personal peace of mind. We need to  insist on the necessity  of a proper self-regard as a prerequisite  of the good and moral life .Man must be first restored to  himself, that, making in himself as it were a stepping stone, he may rise thence and be borne up to  God. Cure yourself of the inclination to  bother  about how you look to other people. Be concerned only with the idea God has of  you.

Tagore says, with begging and scrambling we find very little, but with being true to  ourselves  we find great deal more than we desire. Learning how to  be  strong, intelligent and balanced; how to  resist fatigue, how to  avoid making oneself detestable to  others is no less essential than eating, sleeping, studying at school or working in the office, farm or factory. Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant of spirit glory in fighting alone. Be you one or many, this valour is the only true valour, all else is false. And the valour of the spirit cannot be achieved without Sacrifice, Determination, Faith and Humility. Self-help is the capacity to  stand  on one’s legs without anybody’s help. This does not mean indifference to  or rejection of outside help, but it means the capacity to  be at peace with oneself, to  preserve one’s self-respect, when outside help is not forthcoming or is refused.

In his childhood Alexander the Great  visited  the study of an Athenian sculptor and found it full of little gods. He particularly  liked  one with covered face and winged feet.

“What ‘s  his name?”

“Opportunity”

“Why is his face covered?”

“Because men live so haphazardly that they rarely see it when it passes in front of them.”

Sr (Dr) Lilly Thokkanattu SJL