The Difference Between a Champion and a Schmuck

It’s simple: a champion looks to his own failings first.  When something goes wrong, he asks “what could I have improved?  Where did I make a mistake?  What will I do differently next time?”  A schmuck looks for the closest easy target of blame, the best way to pass off responsibility for the failure.  Surely the blame couldn’t rest with him!

A champion understands that, no matter how unfair a situation may be, we all bear at least some responsibility for the place in which we find ourselves.  So we might as well look at our own participation in the problems of our lives, because we can’t change anyone else.  How many displeased or even battered spouses have learned that lesson in truly horrible fashion?  True, radical, life-altering change comes from within us, not from waiting for someone else to change so that we can be happy.  With that realization comes this liberating truth: when we change ourselves, even if none of our circumstances change, our whole world changes.  We are no longer wholly dependent on others, on money, on circumstances, on relationships, and so on, for happiness.  We are whole, complete people.  We are free.  This is a very important point in our training.