Facades

I think that persistence is probably the most important trait people need to have.

I know a lot of very intelligent people who never quite made it. A lot of very talented people who almost made it. A lot of gifted people who never quite got there.

Not to say they never will. Some of us just bloom slower than others, but it is important to hang in there until you do. Until you reach maximum satisfaction with your own life, or at least stay on the road headed in that direction.

Lots of people want to be there so badly they are willing to fake it. People who cop out and opt for weird instead of successful. Odd instead of even. Facades instead of core. It's just not the same thing.

Maximizing your own self brings a kind of satisfaction and steadiness that cannot be faked. It gives you the feeling that you can stand on your own two feet, strong, competent and able, that you can cope with life even when you don't like it.

Then you can have friends and partners to enhance and polish off what is already good inside you, because it is what you are made of that makes you who you are, not who you know, or what you have.

All the pretty clothes in the world won't make a mud pie into something edible. And all the fancy trucks, cars, houses, and vacations won't buy you real respect, or happiness. These things, as real as they seem, are all ephemeral.

So find that spark in your center and fan it until the real you is on fire. That is about as good as it gets.