The Gift of Love

Coach Summitt carried this passage in her planner.  It's a great summary of our responsibility as leaders and teachers and parents.

You can love me,

but only I can make me happy.

You can teach me,

but only I can do the learning.

You can lead me,

but only I can walk the path.

You can promote me,

but I have to succeed.

You can coach me,

but I have to win the game.

You can even pity me,

but I have to bear the sorrow.

For the Gift of Love

is not a food that feeds me.

It is the sunshine

that nourished that which I must finally harvest for myself.

So if you love me

don't just sing me your song.

Teach me to sing,

for when I am alone,

I will need the melody.

--Dan Baker

Thoughts on the passage above:

"The worst thing you can do to someone you love is to do something for them that they can and should do for themselves."--Abraham Lincoln

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."