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The Live-On Project

It’s Christmas and I have the usual problem of deciding what to give
you. I know you might enjoy many things — books, games, clothes.
But I’m very selfish. I want to give you something that will stay with you
for more than a few months or years. I want to give you a gift that
might remind you of me every Christmas.
If I could give you just one thing, I’d want it to be a simple truth that
took me many years to learn. If you learn it now, it may enrich your life
in hundreds of ways. And it may prevent you from facing many problems
that have hurt people who have never learned it.

The truth is simply this: No one owes you anything.
Significance

How could such a simple statement be important? It may not seem so,
but understanding it can bless your entire life.
No one owes you anything.

It means that no one else is living for you, my child. Because no one is
you. Each person is living for himself; his own happiness is all he can
ever personally feel.

When you realize that no one owes you happiness or anything else, you’ll
be freed from expecting what isn’t likely to be.

It means no one has to love you. If someone loves you, it’s because
there’s something special about you that gives him happiness. Find out
what that something special is and try to make it stronger in you, so
that you’ll be loved even more.

When people do things for you, it’s because they want to — because
you, in some way, give them something meaningful that makes them
want to please you, not because anyone owes you anything.

No one has to like you. If your friends want to be with you, it’s not out
of duty. Find out what makes others happy so they’ll want to be near
you.

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