Week 3 Day 3

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How to Take Criticism

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Proverbs 16:32

Happy the man, whose cautious steps

Still keep the golden mean;

Whose life, by Scripture rules well form’d,

Declares a conscience clean.

With the possible exception of President Washington, Lincoln was the most criticized man who ever held public office in the United States. During the first half of his initial term, there was no epithet that was not applied to him. One newspaper in New York habitually characterized him as “that hideous baboon at the other end of the avenue” and declared that “Barnum should buy and exhibit him as a zoological curiosity.” How would you take it if you were publicly ridiculed? Not many people are accustomed to it, and not many people could take it. But for Lincoln it mattered little. Why? Because he expected to be criticized. It didn’t surprise him, and because he knew it came with the job, he didn’t let it bother him. When you take on a big responsibility, you should expect to be criticized. Get ready for it, and then when it happens, it won’t take you unawares.