With Great Power ...

"With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility"
--Uncle Ben to Peter Parker in Spider-Man

Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-man.

This does not just apply to power - it could also be said of talent, potential, opportunity, or other gifts that can be applied to make the world a better place.

Interesting thought is that when you are (constructively) criticized it is actually a compliment since it means the person has expectations that you can do better and provide a solution. You haven't been written off - you matter. The more (potential) impact you have the more criticism you can expect to receive.

This is similar to the business truism that you should appreciate even negative customer feedback since the alternative is that the customer is so dissatisfied that they just go elsewhere and don't even give you the opportunity to make it right.

To whom much is given, much is expected
-Luke 12:48

We expect those endowed with a gift - be it artistic, intellectual or circumstantial - to cultivate that gift and use it as a vehicle for excellence in life.

Man in the Arena

It is better to try.
This is one of my favorite quotes:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910