Do You Desire To Be Liked?

Then a good place to start is serving others.  I remember watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond a while ago, in which an older female relative from his parents’ home country had been dropped off at his house from the airport by a taxi driver. 

She couldn’t speak English, but once she settled in with them, she took over the maintenance of the home and began cooking and cleaning to the point that Raymond’s parents especially his mother would wake up and come over for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with Raymond’s mom who was always very critical of Raymond's wife's cooking and house keeping, loving everything the woman did. As a matter of fact, she stopped cooking because she said the lady did a better job anyway, and made nice traditional home made dishes from her childhood she loved that her own mother used to make.

The older lady was also always including everyone including Debra in all activities, was always playing with the kids and encouraging Raymond in his career that he felt insecure about. My was she liked by everyone. So much so, when they found out there had been a mix up and she wasn’t their relative, Raymond said she was the only relative he knew that he liked as she was whisked away by her actual relative who came to pick her up. They were all so unhappy to see her go.

The moral of the story is that people who serve others are liked, while people who want to be served are often disliked.

A word is enough for the wise...