Do It Anyway

Last spring when I was in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala to study Spanish, I befriended a ten year old boy named Andy.  Andy’s mom Dona Isabel would bring me a home cooked meal every day, often accompanied by her youngest son.   I found Andy to be a thoroughly engaging and bright fellow cat lover and a friendship between us quickly developed.  He would come over to my apartment in the afternoon and do his homework at my kitchen table or I would quiz him for an English exam.  He had an insatiable curiosity about my life in Colorado, so some afternoons, the schoolwork got put aside and I would patiently answer his tireless questions.  Conversations with Dona Isabel revealed that education does not come cheap in Guatemala, especially for a struggling family in a poor economy.  I decided to help Andy’s family with the cost of his tuition come fall.

So tonight, I trot on up to the local King Soopers with cash in hand intent on getting the money for Andy’s schooling sent off to Guatemala.  After circling the bustling parking lot in search of a parking spot, I patiently wait in line at customer service for what feels like an eternity (although it’s actually more like fifteen minutes).  Finally, I am beckoned forward to a cashier, who keeps me waiting for another ten minutes for some reason she doesn’t bother to explain.  Someone cuts in line and gets waited on before me to my major annoyance.  Eventually, I am brusquely informed that there will be no more Western Union transactions this evening because the machine is down.  I hold my tongue and march angrily out of the store, frustrated that my time and effort have been wasted.   

All the way home, as an added insult, traffic is terrible. So I sit and ponder the mysterious ways of the Universe. I guess I expected to be rewarded for trying my damndest to be a good person.  Instead, it feels more like I got kicked in the butt for no good reason I can discern.  I think of the cynical adage, "No good deed goes unpunished."  

Indeed.    


Before my pity party goes into full swing, I remember a poem often attributed to Mother Teresa called “Do It Anyway":

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
 
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
 
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
 
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
 
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
 
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
 
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
 
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
 
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

 ....Point taken (although I’m no Mother Teresa).