315/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. I can’t jump on the Muhammad Ali bandwagon. I never watched boxing. Yes, I knew who he was but nothing more than that until I saw some of his quotes surfacing on my Facebook feed as well as on internet pages in the last couple of days. I am not a guy who generally likes quotes. I am not a teacher who has motivational posters in his classroom although I am a fan of the self-created metaphor. I don’t really have a motto that I live my life by. I am agnostic; thus, not influenced by any doctrines. I’m a very apolitical person generally unless there is something that I need to be educated about. I take pride in being myself and trying to be a better person along this journey of life. One thing that I was told growing up was that no one would look out for you except yourself – basically, you are #1 (or that’s the way I interpreted it). I don’t currently recall who had said that to me and I don’t even believe anyone in particular said it explicitly but perhaps it was several people in my life who had interpolated that quote in order for me to get through some of the tougher times in life. I may have embraced it a little too literally as I am the first to espouse my own virtues but why not? 🙂 As I read Muhammad Ali’s quotes, there’s a lot of them all about self-empowerment – some may say that that is a form of vanity but I’d wholeheartedly disagree. If you don’t believe in yourself and take pride in your accomplishments, why should others? There’s definitely some sort of charisma that comes across when someone has a solid sense of self. Yes, there is of course a blurred line between self-confident and cockiness but I think that line is decided by the receiver and not the sender. I am glad that I was given the advice to believe in myself as it has greatly helped me overcome the obstacles that life has thrown at me. And just maybe I might start opening up to and living my life by other quotes/mottos – got any good ones for me? 😉
randysangha 