What’s a hard lesson in life I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn?

Rather than focus on just one life lesson learned, my response covers a sweep of time over the past sixty years:

During my farming years as a teen and young adult:
From Farmer Ralph upon watching two boys racing for fun with sacks of grain on their backs; “You’ve got two arms, two legs, two eyes, and two ears and only one back. That should tell you something.”

From farmer Marshall, “Listen, If you wanna work with pigs, you gotta be smarter than the pigs.”

During forty years of working with children and teens:
One the phone with a distraught teenager, “Okay-okay, I promise that I won’t do anything to hurt myself before seeing you tomorrow.” From the same teenage while driving her home after our appointment the next day; Looking at all the trash along the curb waiting for pickup she said, “I’m better than all that trash. I think I want to live.”

My daily reminder while counseling young people that twirled hanging from the ceiling on a string: “Don’t Fix Anything.”

During passing time between classes in a high school hallway, an unknown teen, distraught enough to cut me off in the hallway and ask, “Hi Mr. Lee, my name is ____ ____, do you have time to talk with me?” (My lesson learned, slow down, help is needed everywhere in unseen places. From that day on, when kids were moving, I stood in one place easily seen.”