You do not have to be your mother unless she is who you want to be. You do not have to be your mother’s mother, or your mother’s mother’s mother, or even your grandmother’s mother on your father’s side. You may inherit their chins or their hips or their eyes, but you are not destined to become the women who came before you. You are not destined to live their lives. So if you inherit something, inherit their strength, their resilience. Because the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
by Pam Finger, from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul, 1996
I admired Egan’s courage, faith and compassion. But I wanted to know how she could tell if trying to help her attacker had accomplished anything.
Egan smiled. “The answer to your question was quoted by Ghandi from a Hindu treatise, years ago,” she said. “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
(Source unknown. It’s a typed piece taped into a journal of mine from the 1990’s)
