If

(15-17 February 1993) after Rudyard Kipling

Sure, sometimes you get bewildered and don’t understand the most obvious things, but if you don’t stand still and ask questions you’ll end up lost and in the dark for sure. If someone is trying to confuse you or use you for whatever personal gain, you won’t know unless you pursue it and can throw the whole thing back at him. And don’t think you can just do what I say. I’m not the one to gain from your success. Some say it’s better to be suspected a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, but I say a fool is afraid others will know; you should be afraid of more serious things like failing to learn from failing to take risks or being too proud to be a little humble. You’re probably not as dumb as you think, but don’t let it go to your head. What you’re after is a careful balance between humility and dumb luck, too much humility causing insecurity, too much dumb luck causing pride. It’s probably better not to talk about it. The way I see it, we’re all on the same bus. Be yourself, but what kind of a person are you? Whatever you do is more decisive than what anyone says about you, but you’re no longer an innocent child, and you shouldn’t be leaving things to chance. Just give each minute all you’ve got— Constant effort for constant improvements, no matter how little at each shot.