The key to happiness is to always be the student—this way you create more opportunity for yourself to learn. When you feel driven to take the lead and share what you know, step back and allow others to share what they know and be there to support them, guide them, and perhaps even learn newer perspectives from them. If you have knowledge, influence, or power, you may want to use it conservatively and be patient with those who are trying to gain self-confidence by initiating a leadership role within their interactions.

No One Is Disposable

People dispose of what they don't understand or what challenges those in power. And will society ever know what great benefits could have been discovered through some of these people? In your personal life, family life, interpersonal relationships, and even work, people like and are attracted to what reflects their own self-images and value systems. Any distinctions you place on them have meaning to you and those who share your ideals. Good or bad, right or wrong, they are aspects of personality traits that work, otherwise you would not have them. But herein is the thing: Are they working well for you? No person is disposable. All life matters. Each person matters.

Still, people are oftentimes given away, traded, or even sold when they are not wanted or no longer have useful functions. This can be done by parents or loved ones, as in cases of adoption or abandonment. It can also be done by whole societies in the midst of conflicts or wars, or even just as part of ritual trade. This should evoke a strong response, but here is an aspect to consider—from these dynamics can arise great artists, advocates, and activists, as well as the social awareness from which political change can evolve.