What You Can Not Do or Should Not Do!

 Hello Everyone

A friend of mine sent the following note to me a few days ago….Lee

“On the political front, I also found the below interesting…also as an aside the new Lincoln movie based on the book written by Doris Goodwin.  While I have not seen movie, I read the book 4 years ago and it was very good.

O f all of the United States Presidents, many historians agree that President Lincoln is one of the best leaders to ever hold that office. About 20 years ago, in one of my personal journals I taped a card to one of the pages that I have often gone back to re-read. It is called “Ten Things You Cannot Do” by Abraham Lincoln. I have always thought of them as being outstanding truths to live by. To my dismay, I recently hear on a radio program that President Lincoln was not the author. So I checked it out on Snopes and found out the guy on the radio was right. The Rev. William John Henry Boetcker was the original author. Regardless of who penned this maxims they hold great irrefutable truths!  Here they are:

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.

6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Although Abraham Lincoln never penned these words, one researcher in this matter came to the conclusion that this was an easy mistake to make, because Lincoln governed by these principles. Another great president, Ronald Reagan also quoted four of these maxims in his 1992 speech at the Republican National Convention. Of all the presidents since World War II, President Reagan is by far the best respected president for his truths and accomplishments. My conclusion is this, if two of our greatest presidents governed by these same truths, should we not pay attentions and also promote those same truths?”

And as someone told me recently: If you can’t read, you can’t teach others to read, if you are poor, you can not help the poor; if you are sick, you can not help the sick, if you are not strong, you can not help the weak….Lee

2 Comments
  1. I hope that these words are remembered in Washington, DC.

    In order to assist crossing the aisle, we can add John Kennedy’s words of, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

    I fear that personal accountability is becoming a lost principal.

  2. The bottom line of these principles are the lack of responsibility. There are many out there who do not want nor are willing to take responsibility for themselves. Rather than attempting to legislate responsibility maybe we should teach it and expect it!

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