My Friend, the Poem "Myself"

I'm going to share another of my favorite poems with you and this is why:

So often we try to please others and we can't and we end up miserable.  The truth is, do your best and as Dr. Suess says "Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."  ( which by the way is not always true;  sometimes those that we love or respect the most don't understand and that hurts terribly.)

But it will be a great balm for your soul if you are the sort of person you know you should be and it will cut way, way down on the misunderstandings in your life if you are the sort of person you know you should be.  Enjoy the poem, whether it is an old friend to you or a new one!

~ Jennifer

"Myself"

by Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able as days go by,
To look at myself straight in the eye.
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to hide on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
What kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself in sham.

I want to go with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect
And in this struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I am a bluster and empty show.

I cannot hide myself from me;
I can see what others can never see;
I know what others can never know,
I cannot fool myself, and so

Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.