Wednesday; May 4

When Gerald Ford was sworn in as Vice-President on December 6, 1973 he walked into a hornets nest. Ford was replacing Spiro Agnew who had resigned because of questionable (if not criminal) activities. Before his term was over, he would again replace someone who had failed to live up to his promise to the American people. I am almost certain Vice-President Ford failed to realize just how far-reaching these words would be; but after he took his oath, he made a pledge, “I promise my fellow citizens only this: To uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and…to do the very best that I can for America.”. I would imagine that the years that followed were fraught with headaches and heartaches, but I am impressed with his vision. There was no way he could right all the wrongs or even make good decisions for people who failed to do that on their own – all he could do was do the best he could.

If you are a good and moral person, it is probably tempting to try to do too much to compensate for people who do too little. We stretch ourselves too thin and judge ourselves too harshly when we see people around us failing. However, we must remember that we can only do what we can do. We can’t make decisions for others nor can we make-up for the mistakes they made. Not only do we need to realize this, we must also be okay with it.

Let’s do the best we can. When we do that, we will be the best we can be.

Think About It!

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