NUMBER 12 • JANUARY 2000


EndNotes


 “I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.”

                                             — Umberto Eco

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Do it Anyway

• People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred. Love them anyway.

• If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

• If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

• The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

• Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

• People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for some underdogs anyway.

• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

• People really need help but may attack you if you help them. Help anyway.

• Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you've got anyway.

 

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ELIZA:

“ ... You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated. 
I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”

— George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

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21 Memos from your Child

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all that I ask for. I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. prefer it, it makes me feel more secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big."

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in public.

6. Don't make me feel my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

7. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way, sometimes.

8. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you". It is not you I hate but your power to thwart me.

9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

10. Don't nag. lf you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. This is why I'm not always very accurate.

12. Don't make rash promises. Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken.

13. Don't tax my honesty too much. I am easily frightened into telling lies.

14. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

15. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

16. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

17. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

18. Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologise to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm towards you.

19. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult to keep pace with me, but please do try.

20. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get on without it, so please put up with it.

21. Don't forget that I can't thrive without lots of understanding and love — but I don't need to tell you that, do I?

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