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Home
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KEEP SMILING
Short inspirational pieces by Avrohom Tzvi Schwartz, Kiryat
Sefer, author of A Handful of Light, Hearts on Fire
and his latest, Be Happy and Successful
Honor Them
Honor them! Honor them! Honor them! If you can't break the
jug without spilling the wine, don't break the jug.
The people we know, we meet, want us to respect them, admire
them, love them. Therefore, when we criticize them, they
become angry. They may not show this resentment, but it burns
long and grim within them. Only very wise people appreciate
criticism. "Do not rebuke the fool; he may just hate you.
Rebuke the wise and he will love you" (Mishlei
9:8).
So when we need to criticize others, show disapproval of them
— let us rather praise them. Let's look to boost them,
that they may understand their mistake by themselves, and
move away from it. And if we can't do this, we should just
shut our mouths.
On the other hand, to desire the respect of others, to long
for their approval, their admiration, their love, is a
terrible weakness, almost a sickness. We need to heal
ourselves of this, escape this craziness as best we can.
Instead, we must rely on only our own self approval, and be
the strong, independent people we know we can be.
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