Treasures to be Shared

Sometimes quotes cross my desk that just need to be shared— found by accident when I’m looking through some old papers or received in an email or the old-fashioned snail-mail—and I find myself pausing and reflecting on what I’ve just read. I found the following treasure [see footnote for author] in a collection of papers that belonged to my best friend who is no longer with us, and I felt compelled to share it!

I have learned:

• that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
• that no matter how much you care, some people just don’t care back.
• that it takes years to build up trust. And only seconds to destroy it.
• that it is not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.
• that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
• that it’s taking you a long time to become the person that you are.
• that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
• that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
• that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationships is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.
• that your best friend and you can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
• that sometimes you have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give you the right to be cruel.
• that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
• that no matter how good a friend is, they are going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
• that your background and circumstances may have influenced who you are, but you are responsible for who you become.
• that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

And although it may not be in the original prose, the following was added by someone…

• I have learned that the life you live is not worth living unless it is founded in the love of Jesus Christ.

Thanks, my friend, for keeping this treasure, never knowing who wrote it or how or if it would go beyond your desk. I miss you terribly!

[* I have discovered the author to be Kathy Kane Hansen. Her prose has spread all over the Internet in various forms, the original being written around 1971. I chose to include only some of it. To view the original prose, visit: http://skdesigns.com/internet/articles/prose/hansen/i_have_learned/]