Even YOU Can’t Please Everyone

The 1887 illustration by Walter Crane says it well.You can’t make everyone happy… Mayor Giuliani learns his lesson.

Rudy Giuliani tells the story of when he was first elected Mayor of New York City he learned that lesson immediately.  He said, “…I quickly discovered that if I came up with a plan to hand out $100 bills in Times Square there would be some people who would come up and say, 'Why are you giving $100 bills to these useless people for nothing? You're encouraging laziness, sorriness, you're encouraging people to look for handouts - This is crazy!'" He said on the other hand, there would be another group lined up to say, 'Why are you giving such a small amount of money? $100 is not going to make a difference in their life. If you're going to give money, why not give $1,000, something substantial, something that could make a difference? Why waste your time giving out $100 bills?'

He said, "I quickly learned that as Mayor of New York City there was no way I was going to come up with any kind of program that everybody would be happy with."  

The story of the Grandfather and the Young Boy
In a similar vein, there is a story of the young boy and the grandfather who lived outside of the village and wanted to go into town. The next day the grandfather put the little boy on the donkey and led him into town.  When they got there, they could see the town people whispering among themselves.  

“Look at that old man. Look how he's spoiling the young boy. He's making the young boy lazy. He's coddling the young boy. This is crazy! The young boy needs to realize he's got to pull his own weight in the world. He's got to take care of himself. He's got to grow up. This is terrible”.  

So the grandfather listens to this. The criticism stings him and he thinks about it as he's going home. and so the next time he went to town, he rode the donkey and had the little boy lead him.  

Now when he got into town, he heard others talking among themselves saying… “Can you believe the old man taking advantage of young, poor boy, making him work while the old man lazily rides the donkey?  

The boy's too young. He's not strong enough to lead the donkey. If something were to startle the donkey, he wouldn't be able to control it. This is crazy! What is the old man thinking? He's only thinking of himself.” 

So the old man pondered this in his heart on the way home and he came up with a plan to solve all the criticism. So the next time they went to town the old man and the young boy carried the donkey.

The Moral? Try to please everyone and you’ll just frustrate yourself.

---

Feedback: Have you ever got caught up in a losing effort like this yourself?