When I was about 12 I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was skinny, I wasn't a good student, I was boyish, I talked too loud, and so on. I put up with her as long as I could. At last, with great anger, I ran to my father in tears. He listened to my outburst quietly. Then he asked, 'Are the things she says true or not?' True? I wanted to know how to strike back. What did truth have to do with it? 'Mary, didn't you ever wonder what you are really like? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.' I did as he directed and discovered to my surprise that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change (like being skinny), but a good number I could - and suddenly wanted to - change. For the first time in my life I got a fairly clear picture of myself. I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. 'That's just for you,' he said. 'You know better than anybody else the truth about yourself, once you hear it. But you've got to learn to listen, not to close your ears in anger or hurt. When something said about you is true you'll know it. You'll find that it will echo inside you.' Daddy's advice bas returned to me at many important moments. What did the girl's enemy like to do?