While preparing to end this phase of my journey, I have spent many moments reflecting upon the lessons I have learned and the ways in which they will inform and shape my future. Before saying farewell, I would like to share some of them with you: 
 
1. Our lives and talents are useful only to the extent that they are used in the service of others. 

“To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and 
the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and 
endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier 
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. Never compromise who you are or what you believe in to satisfy the expectations or demands of others.

“To thine own self be true” – William Shakespeare

3. God has a plan for each person, a plan that far surpasses any that we could conceive of. 

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11

4. Do not be discouraged or dissuaded by critics.

“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 them 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 short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at his best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

5. When addressing societal injustice and impoverishment, sympathy is not enough; action is required.
 
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

6. “…. in the final analysis, it is between you and God …”

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway. - Poem posted on the wall at Mother Teresa's orphanage for children in Calcutta.

God Bless,
Erika N.L. Harold
Miss America 2003