It’s a pretty simple question:
…but it requires some serious in-the-mirror introspection to answer.
Honestly:
…when times are tough,
…when it’s inconvenient for you,
…when it’s out of your comfort zone,
…when you’ve had a hard day yourself,
…can others count on you to come through?
It really boils down to this:
…are you a lifter or a leaner?
“There are two kinds of people on earth today;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understood
That the good are half-bad and the bad half-good.
Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man’s wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and the proud, for in life’s little span,
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.
Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.
Wherever you go, you will find the earth’s masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.
And oddly enough, you will find too, I ween,
There’s only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
Your portion of labor, and worry and care?”
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Which Are You?
Craig T. Owens 