No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or emotional appeal.
“If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith.”
“I had to know if I could make it somewhere else. I did not want to go through the rest of my life wondering what might have been without putting myself to the test.”