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The following adaptation of the prayer read by Coleen Rowley is by Suzzy and Maggie Roche from their 2001 Zero Church. As they researched the prayer, they found that although it is widely attributed to Mother Theresa and may have hung by her bedside, it was actually written by a man named Kent Keith, who lives in Hawaii.

He called it "The Ten Paradoxical Commandments." It is now circulating around the world in several versions. It was first composed as a set of ethical guidelines for student council leaders.

Photo: Keri Pickett

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Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered
Forgive them anyway
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives
Be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies
Succeed anyway
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you
Be honest and frank anyway
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight
Build anyway
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous
Be happy anyway
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow
Do good anyway
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough
Give the world the best you've got anyway
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God
It was never between you and them anyway