I’m proud to be what I am, proud of my successes, proud of my errors, proud as well of my qualities as of my defects, proud to have arrived at my age with scars at my heart and at my body but alive, with still sufficient forces to enjoy the life and to ensure my place among the warriors.

I’m proud of still being able to help around me, to be accepted by my peers, to have been able to preserve some friends, not to have forgotten those who left us for always.

I’m proud to have released myself from the constraints of the religion, to have been able to find a source of faith that suits me, proud to have known to find my place in the line of my ancestors.

But my pride has not only advantages. Remember the fable of the raven and the fox (by Jean de La Fontaine translated by Elizur Wright) :

The Raven and the Fox

Perch'd on a lofty oak,

Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese;

Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze,

Thus to the holder spoke:─

"Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven?

Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one!

So black and glossy, on my word, sir,

With voice to match, you were a bird, sir,

Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days."

Sir Raven, overset with praise,

Must show how musical his croak.

Down fell the luncheon from the oak;

Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:─

"The flatterer, my good sir,

Aye liveth on his listener;

Which lesson, if you please,

Is doubtless worth the cheese."

A bit too late, Sir Raven swore

The rogue should never cheat him more.

Flatterers have often been the source of the difficulties I encountered in my business life. I often could not distinguish a fake from a real friend. I have often been too optimistic,

underestimating the risks of the proposals I got, too proud to say no. In one phrase : I have often failed to take advantage of the lessons of “The Raven and the Fox”.

Today, my pride and my pleasure is also to have learned from my bad experiences :

Learned to think twice before to proceed,

Overestimate the negative aspects and underestimate the possible results of each new project,

Do not want too much, recognize that my strength is limited.

But on the other side, one never knows….

Each of us is still sensitive to flattery, even me …..