The Myth of the "Self-Made Man"

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

Being "Self-Made" is a Myth

 

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

Nobody is Self-Made

 

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

"Self-Made" is a Fallacy

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

On the Shoulders of Those Who Came Before

 

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

We Owe Everlasting Gratitude

 

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

Your Talent is God's Gift to You

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

Fix the Environment

Consider this very deep Alexander Den Heijer quote in the context of children/families/schools, of our criminal justice system, of government employees, ...

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
- Alexander Den Heijer

Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens
reflect the kind of care they get.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul
than the way in which it treats its children.
- Nelson Mandela

Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Generally speaking, punishment makes men hard and cold;
it concentrates; it sharpens the feeling of alienation;
it strengthens the power of resistance
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Bars can't build better men, and misery can only break what goodness remains.
- Stuart Turton

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.
A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
- Nelson Mandela

Gardening is all about optimism.
I put a seed in the ground.
I consistently tend it,
confident I will see the results, in time,
of the nurture I have provided.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: Be Grateful, Pay It Forward
   

Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
Your Genes, Place of Birth, and Upbringing are God's Gift to You.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

Success is a result of hard work,
plus being blessed with good genes, food,
a good country, an opportunity for education,
and much more which we never "earned"
or "deserved," and for which we owe
everlasting gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Debt to Those Who are Kind

Appreciating Our Blessings

Give Thanks

Gratitude for This Food
     

Rekindling the Light

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

Whatsoever we beg of God, let us also work for it.
- Jeremy Taylor

Kindness is the light that dissolves
all walls between souls, families, and nations.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Your world expands with the generosity, compassion,
inventiveness, and service that you contribute.
The more love that is given, the more love returns.
The more a helping hand is given, the more hands
are strengthened and empowered to help.
We can help each other to all be winners.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Pay It Forward

A Little Help from My Friends

Zero-Based Gratitude

Faith, Hope, and Charity

Feeling Blessed

Our Light

Your Brother

Ingratitude

Ingratitude is a painter of hard lines on the face.
- Emma Curtis Hopkins

Talent is God-given; be humble.
Fame is man-given; be thankful.
Conceit is self-given; be careful.
- John Wooden

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton (American Catholic writer and monk 1915-1968)

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

None of us got where we are solely by
pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
- Thurgood Marshall

If I have seen further, it is
by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton

Ingratitude often hides behind a mask of independence or self-sufficiency.
An assertion of being "self-made" is a rejection of God, one's ancestors, and society.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Zero-Based Gratitude

Feeling Blessed

Thanksgiving

Gratitude for Our Blessings

Ingratitude