Challenges
To those that have stood beside me , even when I lacked faith in myself, you have my everlasting gratitude, respect and love. You are the Cornerstones that my life is built upon. There is no way I could possibly repay you for all of your kindness and respect.
To those that have condescended me and have been intolerant of my flaws, even when you had no cause to be, thank you as you also have my everlasting gratitude, respect and love. You are the foundation of my life. More than any other person I know you have motivated, challenged, and driven me to success. I could not have been me, without you. There is no way I can repay this debt to you.
To those that have been apathetic and had no interest in my life, despite that I tried earnestly to be there for you, thank you as you also have my everlasting gratitude, respect and love. You have taught me humility, tolerance and compassion. Without you I would be far less of a human being. There is no way I can ever repay my debt to you.
To those that I have never met and do not know me, just by circumstance, I can barely wait to meet you. You are my future and the person that will invest so much of your energy into building my character, wisdom and perspective to meet the challenges I will need in that era of my life. I will owe you more than I can ever repay someday, and I will do my best to be a positive contribution in your life. But how you receive me is not my option it is entirely your choice.
To those that I will never meet, due to time constraints, I want to thank you for the many ways you have improved my life though I cannot even fathom how you have. You have influenced others that have indirectly had an indirect or direct influence on me. I thank you for filling this need and I owe you a debt I can never repay.
When I tell you that you need to love your enemies, I am not being witty or sarcastic. I mean it emphatically and quite literally. How a person treats you is beyond your control. How you react and use their influence on your life is entirely up to you. They are not responsible if you fail to accept all the wonderful experiences they can bring to your life, if you let them.
No one will fail me because I will not allow that to happen. I will find a way to make their influence a positive one. If I do not meet this challenge then I have truly failed myself. You may say this is impractical or unrealistic and I tell you it is not optional. What we do not use to build ourselves up with, will be used to bury us with.
Unus Nemo ~ AKA Jamie Roy Robillard
10/2014