What cannot be given?

Respect is only learned through toils, both physical and mental.  Hard work is the price of admission, and sweat is the only currency accepted.  Respect can only pour from the inner fountain.  Praises from the outside can only poison the ground of a soul.

Compassion is only learned through suffering, both mine and my loved ones'.  Suffering must be felt deeply and repeatedly before the message can be decoded.  Values, priorities, and desires must all bend in the stream of sufferings before the pain will subside.

Purpose is only learned through seeking, both inside and out.  Only diligent seeking can overturn every stone and examine every leaf.  What can be must become known before what should be can be decided.  Shortcuts are failures.

Discipline is only learned through temptations, both triumphs and failures.  But discipline does not come from the temptations, or from any other external source.  Discipline crawls out only from within.  It is tempered and forged by circumstances only if it first burns from within.

Humility is only learned through frustrations, both large and small.  Humiliations come from the outside, and attempt to destroy the spirit.  Humility blossoms and grows from within, and teaches how to transcend the frustrations and humiliations.

Life is a process.  Scrub away the dirt to reveal the value hidden within.

I cannot be given the things I already possess.  I can only scour my soul against the sharp edges of my trials to remove the mud and bandages, and discover myself hidden within.  I will bleed.  I will cry.  I will continue.

I will toil and suffer as I seek through temptations and frustrations.  I will wear away this stinking husk and discover myself, in myself, for myself.  And we shall see what I am good for, what I was made for.