Anyway- a prayer

The following adaptation of the prayer read by Coleen Rowley is by Suzzy and Maggie Roche from their 2001 Zero Church. As they researched the prayer, they found that although it is widely attributed to Mother Theresa and may have hung by her bedside, it was actually written by a man named Kent Keith, who lives in Hawaii. He called it "The Ten Paradoxical Commandments." It is now circulating around the world in several versions. It was first composed as a set of ethical guidelines for student council leaders. Photo: Keri Pickett

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered Forgive them anyway If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives Be kind anyway If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies Succeed anyway If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you Be honest and frank anyway What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight Build anyway If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous Be happy anyway The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow Do good anyway Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough Give the world the best you've got anyway You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God It was never between you and them anyway

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    Coleen Rowley

    Coleen Rowley is Special Agent in the Minneapolis Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (She speaks in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the FBI.)

    Since September 11, 2001, she has been examining her own deepest motivations and has become a counselor and role model for others. In this program, she speaks about her personal experiences and how her conscience has developed. What might the high-profile courage of this plainspoken woman have to do with the rest of us, in other fields of work?

    Tim McGuire

    Tim McGuire is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and facilitator. He's the past president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and former Vice President and Editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

    Tim McGuire connects the morality of whistleblowing with a larger movement sometimes called spirituality in the workplace. McGuire writes a weekly syndicated column, More Than Work, for United Media addressing ethics, spirituality, and values in work. He traces his interest in this field to a period in which he was searching for ways to reconcile his own values and his style of leadership.