That’s a quote from Denis Leary’s Denis “No Cure for Cancer.” When I first heard this CD, I was totally taken by it. First and foremost, it reminded me of one of my mom’s lessons, when I was 10 years old in 3rd grade.
I remember quite well that I came home from school that memorable day and was positively furious because I felt our teacher had not been fair in assessing us in class. I spilled tears of anger as I told her about the injustice that I felt I experienced. My mom listened to me carefully and then in a pretty mater of fact manner, told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to get used to life not being fair! That I’ll have to continue dealing with the situation at school because she was never going to do any favors to our teacher like other parents did, so I’d better expect more of the same to come my way.
Looking back, I think that was the first time in my life when I decided I was not going to let anybody walk over me and I decided I was going to fight my way through anything, as needed. Yes, I took my mom’s statement at face value: life is hard and not fair! And today I know better than ever that no wishful thinking, nor slogans or empowering/inspiring quotes will help me go through the rough times. Rather the solution is hard work, determination, grit, and more hard work. There is nothing that is owed to us, everything is earned and if it comes to it, fought for tooth and nails. With the conviction that if we are honest, loyal, and again, not afraid to put in the work, we can turn the tables in our favor.
So I want to leave you with this thought for the weekend: go out there and earn your “everything!” Give credit where it is deserved, ask for help and thank those who helped you, love without fear, give without expecting anything in return, and live with integrity. Because life is not fair, but you can put the effort to make it pretty damn close to what you want it to be, even if at times, you have to fashion a different helmet as required by each circumstance.
With love and trust in your powers,
Cristina
I remember quite well that I came home from school that memorable day and was positively furious because I felt our teacher had not been fair in assessing us in class. I spilled tears of anger as I told her about the injustice that I felt I experienced. My mom listened to me carefully and then in a pretty mater of fact manner, told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to get used to life not being fair! That I’ll have to continue dealing with the situation at school because she was never going to do any favors to our teacher like other parents did, so I’d better expect more of the same to come my way.
Looking back, I think that was the first time in my life when I decided I was not going to let anybody walk over me and I decided I was going to fight my way through anything, as needed. Yes, I took my mom’s statement at face value: life is hard and not fair! And today I know better than ever that no wishful thinking, nor slogans or empowering/inspiring quotes will help me go through the rough times. Rather the solution is hard work, determination, grit, and more hard work. There is nothing that is owed to us, everything is earned and if it comes to it, fought for tooth and nails. With the conviction that if we are honest, loyal, and again, not afraid to put in the work, we can turn the tables in our favor.
So I want to leave you with this thought for the weekend: go out there and earn your “everything!” Give credit where it is deserved, ask for help and thank those who helped you, love without fear, give without expecting anything in return, and live with integrity. Because life is not fair, but you can put the effort to make it pretty damn close to what you want it to be, even if at times, you have to fashion a different helmet as required by each circumstance.
With love and trust in your powers,
Cristina