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Home
and Family
Keep Smiling
Short inspirational pieces by Avrohom Tzvi Schwartz, Kiryat
Sefer, author of A Handful of Light, Hearts on Fire
and others on Mussar and Hashkofa
Every now and then, we form a special enemy, someone who
decides that he does not like us. We are not always sure what
we did to anger this person, what we did to annoy him -- but
we know that he is upset. He makes nasty comments. He sends
us dirty looks. Sometimes, he is openly abusive. Other times,
he is `almost a best friend.'
An opponent like this is a headache, a difficulty. Still,
there is a way to escape such a problem, and it is fully in
our hands.
What we need to do with this person is pray for him. Pray for
his happiness. Pray for his success. Obviously, his happiness
and success is different from our happiness and success. For
it is because he chooses a path different to the one we walk
on that he comes to resent and look down on us. And so, we
should wish him the type of happiness he wishes for
himself.
Then, by doing this, we free ourselves of his hostility, his
opposition, and we may even -- with enough thought and effort
-- turn him into a true friend.
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