Page 74 - Kindness - No Forward

Silver Rule #9
The Rule of Support

We Must Look for the Greatness in Ourselves and Others

“When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem
solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: “Leave slide
rules here.” If I didn’t do that, I’d find some engineer reaching for his slide
rule. Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do it!”
---Charles F. Kettering

Isn’t it wonderful to be around those people who are so perfect themselves
that they can’t find anything good about anybody else? Always putting
down the other guy, both to his face and behind his back? The type who
can always find a reason why your idea is going to fail?

They’re the same type that Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Gallileo,
Benjamin Franklin, and others subtly told to shut up. (My favorite Chinese
expression is “Man who believe something impossible should not interrupt
Man doing it.”)

PORPOISES Love to Dream

The following conversations is said to have occurred at one of the nation’s
largest utility companies.

The Boss (LION, the leader) said “We must discover a way to harness other
natural energy sources to reduce our reliance on nuclear energy.”

The Marketing Director (PORPOISE, the visionary) suggested, “Why don’t
we build a pipeline for the earth to the sun and capture the energy of the
sun for use here on earth?”

The Department Manager (KOALA, the team player) added, “We’ll need
architects, engineers, builders, and supplies.”

The Accountant (FOX, the cautious thinker) asked, “What will we do when
the pipeline gets near the sun and the heat prevents our workers from
going further/”

To which the Marketing Director replied, “No problem. We’ll do the work at
night!”

While the PORPOISE in this example may have gone a little over the top in
his dreaming, many of us can relate to time when our dreams were
destroyed by someone telling us, “You can’t do that.”