I came across this poem just before the holidays, and I really liked the message, especially the last few lines.
My mom always says “You can’t control what other people do”, as in, it doesn’t do you any good to stress and get upset over the things other people do, the only thing you can control is yourself and your actions, so just make sure you are doing what you need to be doing.
Or to put it another way, I was talking to my brother while I was in Mexico and he said “My kindergarten teacher told us something on the first day of school that really stuck with me, she said ‘Just worry about yourself’ so that’s what I do”.
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-Mary Oliver
