By Tita Dulce Festin-Baybay
That’s Right

I just came across a write up by an elementary school student from Carmona Elementary School in Carmona, Cavite published  in the year 2006 in their official school and community paper called “The Central Point.”  The title of Joe Mark B. Mercado’s piece is “Lincoln’s 10 ‘cannots’ and I would like to share it with you. Joe says these were the ten ‘cannots’ that the US President Abraham Lincoln followed that made him a successful person. Lincoln’s mother died when he was just 9 years old.  Here they are:

1.  You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2.  You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
3.  You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
4.  You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
5.  You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
6.  You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
7.  You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8.  You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
9.  You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.

10.  You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

That’s right, Kidsters!  Think about these 10 ‘cannots’ and practice these in your lives.