SPURNED GIFTS

To do one’s own duties without expecting our friends to plait laurel wreathes of gratitude for us.

To repress all complaints.

To refrain from jesting in conversations of profound edification so as not to discourage nascent responsibility.

To write consoling and constructive pages without pretensions of being understood or praised.

To do timely favors for one’s fellow man without the idea that he therefore owes us anything, even the simplest expression of gratitude.

To recognize that the faults of the other fellow might also be our own, so that we can forgive them unconditionally.

Not to suppose that our listener or listeners are obliged to think as we do.

To hear the mistakes of someone expressing himself in an assembly, without smiles of mockery, so that the novice, in the cultivation of better speech, will not feel frustrated in his endeavors to do well.

Not to blame others for mistakes made in your daily work.

To help those less fortunate, without upbraiding them for their past conduct.

Not to accuse or criticize persons simply because they are absent.

To remain silent in the face of great or small scandals, without making degrading observations, and praying for those who caused them.

Not to demand homage in any circumstance.

To listen respectfully to a boring speech without offending the speaker.

To avoid slanderous opinions concerning actions and attitudes observed, and remarks that are heard. 

To fill in for another another, at a moment's notice, without complaint.

To fulfill sincerely the obligations life imposes on us, without upsetting the affairs of anyone else.

Not to offer contradictions to the speaker's opinions but rather, to help him, without presumption, to understand the truth about a particular matter, at the proper time.

To forget the obsessions in which others are ensnared and instead meditate on those of which we ourselves are still victims.

To love without asking the persons beloved to become the playthings of our whims.

Not to demand, from other human beings, the moral perfection we all are very far from possessing.

Allow your companions the same freedom to find their own happiness that we allow to ourselves.

Militão Pacheco