As a recap, the last paragraph from part 1 reads:

There are people who will ridicule you and try to make you feel inadequate no matter what you do or don’t do. It’s sad but this is just a part of life. Do your best to stay away from those people. You can’t always, but do your best. Remember what Lincoln said, “You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” You can’t do it so there is no use in trying. And Shakespeare commented, “And this above all, to thine own self be true.” And Most Important, I tell you that You Are Good Enough, Just As You Are! Don’t try to change who you are to please somebody else. If you do, you will stop being you.

This title of this section could be modified to “Don’t let shaming rule you.” Just as important as the fact that “You Are Good Enough, Just As You Are!” is realizing so is everybody else. Let me say that again. SO IS EVERYBODY ELSE! A wise man once told me, “Everybody is better than everybody else at something.” You take two people, ANY two people and one of them will be better than the other at something and the same holds true for person number 2.

If you were to take all of Bill Gates’ money away, I mean so that he didn’t have 2 nickels to rub together, some guy who had been living on the streets for a year would know more about surviving on the streets than Bill Gates. So, everybody is better than everybody else at something. That means that you are no better or no worse than anybody else. So what?

The message here is you really want to avoid being one of the shamers! You don’t need that negativity in your life. If someone is shaming you, their negativity is infecting you. If you are shaming someone, your negativity is infecting them. Just like an illness, negativity will eat away at your insides.

As important as the words of Lincoln and Shakespeare are, there is another group of words, commonly referred to as the golden rule that goes hand in hand with the others. ”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Just as you don’t want anybody shaming you, you don’t want to be one of the people doing the shaming. Just as I advise people to not let anybody steal your dreams, I say don’t do anything to steal anybody else’s. Don’t let anybody rain your parade and don’t rain on anybody else’s.

The most beautiful picture of the ladder of success I have ever seen has everyone reaching up with one hand to receive help from those who have gone before and reaching down with the other to help those who come after. That way, everybody wins.