Wherever you stand in your life today, someone else helped you acquire your blessings.

“I don’t have any blessings!”

“Nobody helped me, I did it all myself!”

“Not all of us have a daddy or mama to turn to!”

“You can be so naive, Marian.”

Someone I respect very highly once told me… “credit is due where credit is deserved.” So… who are we discrediting when we pump out our chests arrogantly, stick our noses in the air and proclaim that we have nobody to thank for anything?

It is not I who is naive. We cannot take full credit for our successes and achievements while simultaneously blaming others for our setbacks and failures.

In order to help you, someone does not have to write you a cheque or pay off your student loans for you. You can do that yourself. Help comes in many forms, and we sometimes don’t even recognize it as help because it’s painful.

If you look back at your most difficult experiences with a new lense, however, you might start to uncover some of the greatest lessons you learned. These lessons led you to becoming who you are. Isn’t that a blessing?

In 7th grade, I studied all day and all night for a week before my Math exam. I wanted to impress my teacher because she was strict and nothing seemed to pierce her hard demeanor. 3 days after I took the exam, she called me up in front of the entire class. “Yes!” I thought, “I did it!” She handed me my exam and asked me to explain myself to the class. I was confused. On the top of the paper, I could see a 100% with a big fat “F” beside it.

“Why did I fail?” I asked.

“I DO NOT award a CHEATER!” She responded back harshly.

And so I learned a valuable lesson: For those who believe, nothing is impossible. For those who don’t, everything is.

I looked at my teacher that day and realized that respect has to be earned, and that she didn’t deserve mine. I realized that I should have achieved the 100% for me, and not for her. I would not work that hard for someone like her again. Today, I know that only the person who can see the magic in things will ever be shown any magic. Only good people will benefit from my work.

For those of you concerned, I spoke to my principal and received my A, and was awarded membership to the National Junior Honour Society to boot.

I thank that woman every day. I saw what it was like to be like her, so I became the opposite.

Wherever you stand today, others have helped pave the path for you. Who have you got to thank? Probably a hell of a lot of people.

And remember… we design our own luck!

M.