Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.

Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.

I've been looking at this fortune, wondering how to interpret this. Charity begins at home--the first thing that comes to mind is that we are all taught to do chores. Perhaps we begin by cleaning our rooms for a dollar. Or perhaps washing the dishes for ten cents--or whatever allowance we got from our parents. But rather than doing these chores for monetary reimbursement, we (hopefully) learn to do things like take out the trash so Dad won't have to, or to clean the shower so Mom won't have to. It's the consideration for others that we learn at home.

Now as far as justice--it is a bit of an extension of charity. Instead of doing things for people that we truly know and love at home, we extend our treatment to others. Treat them kindly, treat them with respect, and to be fair to others.

Charming one

You will always possess a charm and sense of humor that attracts others.

It's always important to keep a sense of humor! I've found that the people who are most comfortable to be around are the ones who are charming and kind, and have a great sense of humor. There are those that make me want to run (I have a couple customers, who, frankly, scare the heck out of me with perpetual scowls. This makes me wonder how they wound up being married.

Care and attention to the key relationships in your life will pay off.

Care and attention to the key relationships in your life will pay off.

Once, I had a friend that I thought was my very best friend in school. I went to college, and despite the fact that I would call her or e-mail her, she would not return my messages. There was even a time that I was home for a long weekend, so I called her as soon as I was home, and asked her to call me back so we could do something together.

Did I ever hear back from her? Not till the night I went back to school, and even then, she just left a message on the answering machine, which was something to the effect of, "Well, I didn't call, but I figured you'd be back at school already."

Stupid excuse, I thought--even if she couldn't get together with me that weekend, she could have at least called and said, "Hey, it's cool that you're home, but I'm really sorry--I already have plans." At least do the courtesy of realizing that friendship is a two-way street, and I can't be the one to always maintain the relationship.

After that, I stopped trying or bothering to keep in touch with her. If it was truly a friendship that she valued, she ought to nurture it, too--not just me. So for years, I didn't hear from her, then I ran into her a year after I moved back home. She's sort of in my life, I don't consider her a true friend. So, to me, real relationships are ones that you value and where you feel valued as a person, and even if time gets away from you, you can still call that person and make them feel important.

All I need

No need to worry! You will always have everything you need!

That's good to know in these hard economic times. One thing I do want to say--is to remember the difference between "need" and "want"--perhaps I need food, but not a wii, or maybe I need clothes, but I want, say, the $200 skirt from Anthropologie. I think making sure you have what you need will keep you happy--but also knowing that you may not always have everything you want is also important, too.

So here's to having everything we need--and all the things we want--and get--is just the icing on the cake.

Psst. I've got a secret for you.

Rumor is a by-product of untruthful conversation.
I kind of remember elementary school, and even worse, high school where truths and untruths flew around like crazy. So-and-so did this, so-and-so slept with this person. Sometimes it would leave an indelible mark on the person's reputation. One little thing, real or imagined, could be someone's downfall. Usually it's something not true, or maybe a bit of stretched truth.

I can think of an instance where rumors about one of my friends was spread around this little group, and I'm sure was spread to other people who knew this group. It's not a nice situation, and I was frustrated about this, because most of these people had met her for the very first time then, and I had known her since I was about six years old, so I think I'm a better judge of her character than all the gossips. Even though that was quite some time ago, it still annoys me to know that people were so readily saying untruthful things about my friend behind her back. Of course, I stuck up for her (and I think of this whole group, only one guy believed me, because, as he said, "Guys lie--so you are right, and she's probably telling the truth.")

Hopefully, enough time has passed that people have forgotten about the incident...But the thing with rumors and gossip is they never seem to die easily...

Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed.

I'm trying to figure out what my goals are. Well, actually, I know what they are, but I have been so distracted lately, what with Christmas being around the corner, and with so many distractions. My ability to focus, apparently, is non-existent.

Part of the problem is that when I think about things like studying, I get stressed out because, well, this is Christmas break--who needs more stress? But I promise I will try and make sure that books and movies and fun things do not lure me away from studying (after all, I'd like to finish school on a positive note...)

Tomorrow your creative side with shine forth with exceptional ideas.

Oh, this sounds really good to me. I'm not sure how the creativity would work in retail, as I sell things during the Christmas rush. I'm sure I'll come up with something, so I am curious to see what the exceptional ideas will be.