When I was 15, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my short-comings . Week by week her list grew. I was skinny , I talked too loud, I was too proud, and so on. I put up with her as long as I could. At last, I ran to my father in tears and anger. He listened to my outburst quietly. They he asked, "Are the things she says the 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 every thing she said and mark the points that are true. You needn't pay attention to the other things she said. I did as he told me and discovered to my surprise that about half the things are true. Some of them I couldn't change(like being skinny), but a good number I could and suddenly wanted to change. For the time in my life I began to get a quiet clear picture of myself. I brought the list back to Daddy, but he wouldn't take it."That's just for you,"he said."You know better than any else the truth about yourself, once you hear it. But you've got to learn to listen, not close your ears in anger or hurt. When someone says something about you, you'll know if it's true or not. If it is ,you'll find it will echo inside you." "I still don't think it very nice of her to talk about me in front of everybody." "Mary, there is one way you could stop others talking about you ever again, and criticizing  you--just say nothing and do nothing. But then, if you do that, you'd find you were nothing. You wouldn't like that now, would you?""No, I admitted " The writer's father thinks  _  .
if one says nothing and does nothing, people will praise him. one should not do anything because others will talk about him. it is not good to talk about others. everyone is talked about by others.