A plea to all newspapers / Credos to live by in 2012

This urgent appeal is directed to all newspapers. Way before New Year’s day, please publish on your front pages photos of victims of exploding firecrackers. These photos could minimize the accidents caused by firecrackers.

Some years ago, a colleague of mine told me that a friend of his, a medical student, picked up from the ground a firecracker that had not exploded. The very moment he did so, the firecracker exploded in his hand. It had to be amputated and along with it his shattered dreams of becoming a doctor.

The requested pictures might dissuade misguided Filipinos from literally playing with fire and ending up disabled for life.

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The following meaningful comments and credos, culled form the booklet “Bits and Pieces” (published in the US) could inspire us through 2012 and thereafter.

“Friendship is like a bank account. You can’t continue to draw on it without making deposits.”

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“Asked for the secret of success, one executive who had worked his way through the ranks said: ‘It’s simple. I never had a job I didn’t like.’ ”

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” — Beverly Sills (Incidentally, the late opera singer performed in the Meralco Theater at its inauguration.)

Nothing can lead us to persevere in life more than the career of Abraham Lincoln, here outlined briefly:

Failed in business at 22/ Defeated as he ran for legislature at 23/ Again failed in business at 24/ Elected to legislature at 25/ His sweetheart died when he was 26/ Had a nervous breakdown at 27/ Defeated for Speaker at 29/ Defeated for Elector at 31/ Defeated for Congress at 34/ Defeated for Congress at 39/ Defeated for Senate at 46/ Defeated for Vice-President at 47/ Defeated for Senate at 49/ Elected President of the United States at 51.

“The trouble with self-made men is that they worship their creator.”

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” — Calvin Coolidge

“If you were to write down all the possible ways to motivate people to do better work, friendly praise would have to come near the head of your list.”

“Do you curb the natural tendency to look for a scapegoat? Do you avoid covering up the mistake? The wiser course is simply to inform everyone affected and correct the error promptly.”

“Good supervision is the art of getting average people to do superior work.”

“My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.”

“Most of us will never do great things, but we can do small things in a great way.”

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” — Henry Ford

“God gave us two ears but only one mouth. Some people say that’s because He wanted us to spend twice as much listening as talking. Others claim it’s because He knew listening was twice as hard as talking.”

“Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.”

“Many people have written creeds, those principles by which they live and in which they believe. One of the finest is this one by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

“I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

“I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

“I believe the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

“I believe in the dignity of labor; that the world owes no man a living, but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

“I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character — not wealth or power or position — is of supreme worth.”