Teddy Roosevelt’s sister looked her in the eye and said：“Neverbe bothered by what people say， as long as you know in your heartyou are right.” Eleanor Roosevelt told me that that bit of adviceproved to be her Rock of Gibraltar years later， when she was inthe White House. She told me “do what you feel in your heart tobe right-for you’ll be criticised， anyway. You’ll be damned if youdo， and damned if you don’t.” That is her advice.
When the late Matthew C. Brush， was president of theAmerican International Corporation at 40 Wall Street， I askedhim if he was ever sensitive to criticism； and he replied： “Yes， Iwas very sensitive to it in my early days. I was eager then to haveall the employees in the organisation think I was perfect. If theydidn’t， it worried me. I would try to please first one person whohad been sounding off against me； but the very thing I did topatch it up with him would make someone else mad. Then when Itried to fix it up with this person， I would stir up a couple of otherbumble-bees. I finally discovered that the more I tried to pacifyand to smooth over injured feelings in order to escape personalcriticism， the more certain I was to increase my enemies. Sofinally I said to myself： ‘If you get your head above the crowd，you’re going to be criticised. So get used to the idea.’ that helpedme tremendously. From that time on I made it a rule to do thevery best I could and then put up my old umbrella and let the rainof criticism drain off me instead of running down my neck.”
Deems Taylor went a bit further： he let the rain of criticismrun down his neck and had a good laugh over it—in public.
When he was giving his comments during the intermission of theSunday afternoon radio concerts of the New York Philharmonic—Symphony Orchestra， one woman wrote him a letter calling him“a liar， a traitor， a snake and a moron”. On the following week’sbroadcast， Mr. Taylor read this letter over the radio to millions oflisteners. In his book， Of Men & Music， he tells us that a few dayslater he received another letter from the same lady， “expressingher unaltered opinion that I was still a liar， a traitor， a snake anda moron. I have a suspicion，” adds Mr. Taylor， “that she didn’tcare for that talk.” We can’t keep from admiring a man who takescriticism like that. We admire his serenity， his unshaken poise，and his sense of humour.
When Charles Schwab was addressing the student body atPrinceton， he confessed that one of the most important lessonshe had ever learned was taught to him by an old German whoworked in Schwab’s steel mill. The old German got involved ina hot wartime argument with the other steelworkers， and theytossed him into the river. “When he came into my office，” Mr.
Schwab said， “covered with mud and water， I asked him what hehad said to the men who had thrown him into the river， and hereplied：‘I just laughed.’”
Mr. Schwab declared that he had adopted that old German’swords as his motto： “Just laugh.”
That motto is especially good when you are the victim ofunjust criticism. You can answer the man who answers you back，but what can you say to the man who “just laughs”？
Lincoln might have broken under the strain of the Civil Warif he hadn’t learned the folly of trying to answer all his savagecritics. He finally said： “If I were to try to read， much less toanswer， all the attacks made on me， this shop might as well beclosed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the349 ·
very best I can； and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. Ifthe end brings me out all right， then what is said against me won’tmatter. If the end brings me out wrong， then ten angels swearingI was right would make no difference.”
When you and I are unjustly criticised， let’s remember Rule 2：
Do the very best yon can： and then put up your old umbrella andkeep the rain of criticism from running down the back of your neck.
