Break your mirrors

I just finished Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography, Total Recall, and he mentioned a speech that his father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, gave at Yale. There is one piece that really connected with me and I thought I’d share it here. It’s unequivocally how I attempt to live my life.

And I have one small word of advice because it is going to be tough: Break your mirrors!!! Yes indeed — shatter the glass. In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor and less about your own.

I suggest this: When you get to be thirty, forty, fifty, or even seventy years old, you’ll get more happiness and contentment out of counting your friends than counting your dollars. You’ll get more satisfaction from having improved your neighborhood, your town, your state, your country, and your fellow human beings than you’ll ever get from your muscles, your figure, your automobile, your house, or your credit rating.

You’ll get more from being a peacemaker than a warrior. I’ve been both, so I speak from experience. Break the mirrors!