In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound.
Interpretation
Healing and care are essential in both life and community.
This quote by Ed Koch emphasizes the importance of addressing and caring for wounds, whether physical or metaphorical, in our lives and neighborhoods. It suggests that having a clean and well-managed situation is far better than allowing problems to fester and worsen, highlighting the value of proactive care and attention to our surroundings and relationships.
In practice
During a community meeting about neighborhood safety, this quote can inspire teamwork and care.
No, I am not a homosexual. If I were a homosexual, I would hope I would have the courage to say so. What's cruel is that you are forcing me to say I am not a homosexual. This means you are putting homosexuals down. I don't want to do that.
The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again.
Have confidence in your decisions. Make them expeditiously, and stay with them as long as you believe you are correct no matter what others say. However, when you conclude you were in error, do not hesitate to announce the error publicly and change course.
I was not afraid of the press or the militants. It was uncomfortable, but I was not afraid. With respect to the press, I knew I knew more than they knew about city matters. With respect to the militants, I understood it. I mean, everybody believed in those days that they were being screwed, you know, that somebody was getting ahead of them.
Everyone is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.
Pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many.
I'm much more creative when I've actually taken care of myself.
Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we're not doing anything. _x000D_ _x000D_ Otherwise, we're always doing something, we're always thinking something, we're always occupied. _x000D_ _x000D_ We get lost in millions of obsessions and fixations. _x000D_ _x000D_ But by meditating-by not doing anything-_x000D_ _x000D_ all these fixations are revealed and our obsessions will naturally undo themselves like a snake uncoiling itself.
We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny.
We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don't need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can begin to transform what is negative into what is positive. This is how we start to grow up.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.