We are not here to change other people. Whether or not someone else wants to change has nothing to do with us. We can change. We can use the resistance, cruelty, selfishness, and negativity of others to turn our attention around and see what it is inside of us that rises up to protect the images that we have of ourselves.
When we see clearly the parts of us that want to fight because of someone else's thoughtlessness, then at that instant we know what must be given up. When we refuse to fight with another, we become a true mirror for the very one who attacked us. That person then has a chance to see the truth of himself because we did not validate what was negative in him by returning it in kind.
