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.
Our first intuitions are the true ones.
Strengths are not activities you're good at, they're activities that strengthen you. A strength is an activity that before you're doing it you look forward to doing it; while you're doing it, time goes by quickly and you can concentrate; after you've done it, it seems to fulfill a need of yours.
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
He who is greedy is disgraced; he who discloses his hardship will always be humiliated; he who has no control over his tongue will often have to face discomfort.
Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube.
Ignorance is not innocence but sin.
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