Soldier On! w/Leroy Garrett   — Occasional Essays

Essay 146 (10-20-06)

CONRAD HILTON'S TEN RULES FOR LIVING

 1.Find your own particular talent.

  As surely as we have different thumb prints, we have different talents.

  Don’t worry if it takes time to find your own niche. George Washington started as a surveyor, Lincoln as a woodsman and storekeeper.

  There is a danger that the "Security" of seniority and pensions will keep a young man from finding his own rainbow and where he fits in the divine pattern.
  2. Be Big, Think Big, Act Big, Dream Big.

  One’s value is limited only by the mold he makes for himself. It takes no more money to expect to be the best housewife, the finest nurse, the most capable carpenter.  Failure comes by misjudging our own abilities, by our limited thinking.

  3. Be honest.

  This means more than not cheating or not lying. It means a bold, open stand for truth as one knows it. It means that we are not to be deceitful, which includes self-deceit.

  Two quotations that my mother often quoted to me, which helped to shape my life.

  Shakespeare: "To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

  Sir Walter Scott: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

    These moral principles, grounded into me by my mother, led me to never fear to tell the full, direct, unvarnished truth in business deals, even when my  lawyers advised "a little judicious evasion."

  4. Live with enthusiasm.

  Ability is essential but it is not enough. There must be ability plus enthusiasm.. Enthusiasm is an inexhaustible force, and anything worth doing cannot be done without it. And there is no such thing as "a little bit of enthusiasm."

  5. Don’t let possessions possess you.

  The Bible doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil, but that the love of money is the root of all evil.

  Possessions are delightful to have, but if there is even one you cannot live without, it is better to give it up than for it to possess you.
  6. Don’t worry about your problems.

  Worry is an act of distrust. The key is a balanced life: work, action, thought, rest, recreation. The chronic worrier is unbalanced.

    Problems are challenges to be met, which we do by being mentally alert and physically well.

  7. Don’t cling to the past.

  To be haunted by past failures or satisfied with past successes only hinders forward motion.

   The person who walks with his eyes turned backward is likely to fall into a ditch. Let yesterday’s experiences be the foundation on which you build today.

  8. Look up to people when you can; Look down on no one.

  Do we really know the person who comes into our lives or into our place of business? To a statitician he is a unit in a crowd; to a biologist he is a specimen; to a physicist he is a formula of mass and energy; to a chemist he is a compound of substances; to a historian he is one of the billions who make up human history; to a politician he is a vote; to a merchant he is a customer.

  But what do we know of his dreams, his problems, his heartaches, his suffering, his strengths and weaknesses? There is a common denominator: we all have the spark of life, and we are all created in the image of God.

  9. Assume your full share of responsibility for the world in which you live.

    Formulate your faith and your philosophy, and then stand by it and live by it. We are "the young Americans" -- since we are still a young nation – so we must set an example for future generations.

    Never say, "What can one individual do?" for each of us can make a difference when it comes to solving such problems as poverty, slums, dope peddling, crime, injustiIce.

    10. Pray consistently and confidently.

        Like good soldiers on a mission, we are to keep in touch with headquarters, using the          "walkie-talkie."

         What prayer means to me is that I can talk to God at anytime, day or night. I can tell him that  I am worried, or bewildered, or discouraged, or that I am happy. And I can thank him for my blessings.

          The previous nine rules that I have listed are like spokes in a wheel. And prayer is the hub that holds the wheel together. With prayer we are "a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor."

Two of Conrad Hilton’s favorite words of wisdom:

  "No arrangement of bad eggs can make a good omelet"

  "Anyone who is afraid he might fall out of bed should sleep on the floor."

Notes

  We all admire the person who builds such a business empire as the Hilton Hotel chain, which circles the globe. And we especially respect the one who does so out of a concern for what is morally right. Conrad Hilton has been one of my moral heroes ever since I read his autobiography, Be My Guest, a generation ago, from which these rules are taken. I have shared these moral principles with students in Ethics classes through the years. I always emphasized Rule 3, along with the two poignant quotations that profoundly influenced Hilton’s life. But Ouida is especially impressed with Rule 8. It is enough to say that the two together – certainly all ten – would change the world, if only heeded. I hope you will share them with your youth.

  Our daughter Phoebe continues to be in ICU, and she is still on a respirator, though she does some breathing on her own. She is fighting a staph infection, and her lung doctor says she has a long way to go. Her condition is serious but perhaps not critical. We very much appreciate your loving concern for us in the recent death of our great granddaughter, 19-month old Trinity. Her daddy Ashley is especially devastated, not yet able to go back to work. I tell him that however dark it seems, the sun will shine again. We soldier on, even if with a limp.

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