Wal-Mart, Inc., CEO Lee Scott to company executives, October 2005
During this time we were asked by governments, relief agencies and communities to help. And look what happened. We were showered with gratitude, kindness and acknowledgments. This was Wal-Mart at its best. Katrina asked this critical question, and I want to ask you: What would it take for Wal-Mart to be that company, at our best, all the time? What if we used our size and resources to make this country and this earth an even better place for all of us?
Albert Einstein
When a group of individuals becomes a 'We', a harmonious whole, then the highest is reached that humans as creatures can reach.
Anthony A. Meyer: A wedding toast
Remember, 'We' comes before 'I' in 'Wedding.'
Melinda Gates in the Wall Street Journal, regarding the $31.9 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's management of its global health program
We bring a lot of (the same) talents to the foundation. We think; we read an incredible amount; we discuss the issues at home; we go into the field; and it gets ingrained. We're constantly talking about priorities. We've got to push on that more than we have been. We develop a portfolio, and make sure we're constantly pushing with the global health team. Sometimes we need to step back and ask, "Have we prioritized enough? Are we focused on what we believe as a couple?
Chicago Bears Coach, Lovie Smith after presenting the George S. Halas NFC Championship Trophy to Halas' daughter, Virginia McCaskey, during Fox Network's postgame program
You could see it in her face--how excited she was. This was a dream for her for a long time. We told her we would do that. The team told her they would bring (the trophy) to her.
Virginia McCaskey's Response
"We are enjoying the privileges and perks that go along with ownership, but we have to keep reminding ourselves we really didn't do anything to earn this. George Halas started it all. We are just the recipients of a tremendous legacy. I use the word 'custodians' and we wait to pass it on the best way we can."
Preamble to the United States Constitution
We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Paul Schmitt at his retirement from Jefferson Junior High School after 33 years in education at the same Naperville, Illinois school.
The big picture is not what's good for me, but what's good for everybody as a whole, and it takes a 'we' to make a difference, not just one person.
Adidas press release, Oct 1, 2007 expressing the company's "Basketball in a Brotherhood" philosophy encompassing the idea of believing in "We" and not "Me"
The sole objective is to win through honoring the core values of the game: we lead by example; we trust each other; we make the extra pass; we fight for our fellow brother every night; we don't check box scores. And the only name on the jersey we care about is the one across the front. In the 'Brotherhood,' dynasties don't happen alone. In the 'Brotherhood,' it's We not Me.
Sister Jeanne Haley, Administrator of St. Patrick's Residence in answer to the question: What is your personal philosophy?
Trust in God and realize that it's not all about you. I think that's the only way we can live our lives. So if you think everything is about us and how we are going to handle things and what we are going to do and what we are going to achieve, we're going to be exhausted and not accomplish anything. But if we can understand that God put all these people in our lives making our lives better and to make what we do better, then it can be a joy.
Written by Sheila and Don Jacklich from the song "We Not Me" 2008
Is there an answer to most of our problems?
Is there one answer if we had to choose?
Yes, there is, and in that simple answer
there is something we must lose.
Three little words are the ones we should live by.
Three little words, oh, how easy to say.
Three little words not to take but to give by.
And so much to take away.
We not me.
We not me.
We, not me. We, not me.
To lead is to listen and follow
Whatﾒs best for the people we lead
To follow is coming to know as one
itﾒs each other we all need.
We, not me. We, not me.
We, not me. We, not me.
Each night as we lie on our pillow
if these words to ourselves we would say
Never alone would we fall asleep
nor alone start our day.
We, not me, words of three.
Just try them and you will see.
Captain James Lovell, Crew member of the Apollo 8 Mission to the moon in December 1968
At one point I sighted the earth with my thumb and my thumb from that distance fit over the entire planet. I realized how insignificant we all are if everything I'd ever known is behind my thumbﾅWhen you see Earth from the moon, you realize how fragile it is and just how limited the resources are. We're all astronauts on this spaceship Earth. About six or seven billion of us. And we have to work and live together.
Alabama Head Football Coach, Lou Saban after losing to rival LSU on November 3, 2007
It ain't got nothing to do with me. I don't coach LSU anymore. I coach Alabama. We're going to recruit good players. We're going to have a good team. We're going to have a good program. So, it's got nothing to do with me. Nothing.
Excerpt from "Come Back to Me" by Gregory Norbet OSB
Come back to me with all your heart.
Don't let fear keep us apart.
Trees do bend, though straight and tall.
So must WE to others call.
Chicago Cub Third Baseman, Aramis Ramierz, responding to the media September 22, 2007, as the Cubs pursue a Central Division Title.
It's not about me or Soriano. We're winning at the right time.
Scott Turow, Author of Presumed Innocent
The Way I See It. The law, for all its failings, has a noble goal -- to make the little bit of life that people can actually control more just. We can't end disease or natural disasters; but we can devise rules for our dealings with one another that fairly weigh the rights and needs of everyone, and which, therefore, reflect our best vision of ourselves.
From The Servant Song by Richard Gillard, 1977
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are trav'lers on the road.
We are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
Author unknown
Peace Prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make us instruments of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where this is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying, that we are born into eternal life.
Excerpt from The Lord's Prayer, submitted by Sophia Sopuch, an 8th grader at Washington Junior High School in Naperville, Illinois
Our Father who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name...
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Jerry Kath of the group Chicago from the song Alma Mater
Everything is going fine
and now we just have to keep in mind:
we must set brand new goals.
We must not lose control
of the possibility of the discovery
that would let everybody see
that we were just meant to be.
Helen Keller
Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.
Written and composed for the Grammy Awards in 1985
We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day. So let's start giving.
from Get Together sung by the Youngbloods in the late 1960's.
Some may come and some may go.
We shall surely pass
when the one that left us here
returns for us at last.
We are but a moment's sunlight
fading in the grass.
Come on people now.
Smile on your brother.
Everybody get together.
Try to love one another right now!
Bill Brummel, Documentary filmmaker
The Way I see It #61:
Imagine we are all the same.
Imagine we all agree about politics, religion and morality.
Imagine we like the same types of music, art, food and coffee.
Imagine we all look alike.
Sound boring?
Differences need not divide us.
Embrace diversity.
Dignity is everyone's human right.
From the poem titled The Dash by Linda Ellis, copyright 1998.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and what's real,
and always try to understand the way the other people feel.
Andﾅbe less quick to anger, and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
Howard Griffin, Websters Third New International Dictionary, 1961
We
1a: I and the rest of a group that includes me: you and I: you and I and another or others.
2a: n -s: a group that is consciously felt as such by its members
Words by Neil Diamond 2005
We.
Love is about chemistry.
Isn't something you go off to school to learn.
Isn't math or ancient history.
It's the kind of thing that comes down to simple terms.
It's not about you.
It's not about me.
Love is all about we.
Yes, it's all about we.
Want to take you to that great unknown.
Show you to a place that you've never been.
Down a road only lovers go.
But before we leave I want to repeat again.
It's not about you.
It's not about me.
Love is all about we.
Yes, it's all about we.
With a string you can tie a knot.
But you got to have something to tie it to.
Otherwise all you've got is a knot.
But when it ties me to you it's a whole other thing.
Love is all about we.
Love is all about we.
Love is not about young or old.
Touches everybody in a special way.
It's a blanket when the nights are cold.
It can even keep you dry on a rainy day.
And it's not about you.
It's not about me.
Love is all about we.
Yes, it's all about we.
You and me.
Say it's all about we.
You and me.
O'we o'we o'we o'we o'we.
Love is about we.
John Kraimer
My Generation.
They say it's the age of the "me" generation.
We're in search of a new but yet fleeting sensation.
Living our lives chasing self-gratification.
When you boil it down to a quick generalization.
And perhaps we should give that thought further inspection.
They may be half right by my own recollection.
And maybe inspection.
Will lead to detection.
And force a selection.
Which could be correction.
Or outright rejection.
Of the way things are now, i.e., the old status quo.
When the main focus of life is buying toys with your dough.
When everything's fast, there's no time to go slow.
And even our food is ordered "to go."
But is it really a surprise? I think we all know.
When every man's for himself, there's less friend and more foe.
Is there a lesson from this? Is there one we should see?
Is it something profound? Can the truth be set free?
Or is it one small simple rule? And just what could it be?
Perhaps we start thinking more about "us" and less about "me."
Perhaps a little less "you" and a little more "we."
Could that one simple rule bring a new situation?
And foster a spirit of complete integration?
With the "me" cast aside, so there goes isolation.
And a new tide flows in bringing transformation.
Cooperation.
Unification.
Peace among nations.
A life celebration.
All swept up in on waves of the "we" generation.
Author unknown
A short course in human relations.
The Six most important words: I admit that I was wrong.
The five most important words: You did a great job.
The four most important words: What do you think?
The three most important words: Could you pleaseﾅ
The two most important words: Thank you.
The most important word: We.
The least important word: I.
From Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"
Heigh-ho. Heigh ho. It's off to work we go.
Kevin Garnett for the Boston Celtics, introducing limited-edition addidas shoes.
All season long it has been about we and not me, so as we head into the NBA Finals, I wanted to do something special for the Boston community.
From the song at least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend.
And gie's a hand o'thine.
We'll take a cup o'kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Bill Gates announcing on January 21, 2009 to Rotary International of the $255 million Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to assist in Rotary's Polio Plus Program aimed at eliminating Polio throughout the world by the year 2013.
We know that it's a formidable challenge to eradicate a disease that has killed and crippled children since at least the time of the ancient EgyptiansﾅBut we do have the vaccines to wipe it out. Countries do have the will to deploy all the tools at their disposal. If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will eradicate polio.
Coach Lou Holtz, From Wins, Losses, and Lessons
Life provides all of us with a series of choices. The choices we make determine how successful we are. When you acknowledge that you and only you are responsible and accountable for the choices you make, and when you refuse to blame others for the choices you have made, you have in your hand the blueprint for success. When you accept the fact that you are in your present condition, good or bad, because of the choices you have made, you will then find yourself capable of changing your situation by making better choices. No one but you determines your success in life. Making the right choices paves your way.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great 'world house' in which we have to live together...a family unduly separated in ideas, cultures and interests, who, because we can never again live apart, we must somehow learn to live with each other in peace.
Words from the hymn version of Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, an anthem of the Royal British Legion
Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving to all men that we receive,
And in dying that we are born to eternal life.
From a poem by Don E. Jacklich in 1960. In celebration of an intramural football championship for ﾓRosieﾒs Boysﾔ at the then St. Procopius College (now Benedictine University)
Wimpo Gratias
They won the game
A crying shame
That Wimpy didnﾒt see
They took the foe
But really though
The game was won by me
Vancura threw
His arm was true
This surely was a shock
But Jake the flake
Ate, too, the cake
Cause Jake-o held the clock
They praised the Lord
When Shingler scored
What finally broke the tie
As it would seem
They praised the team
But really it was I
Willy knew
As well as you
What fools these mortals be!
And to my shame
I got the fame
I should say it was we.
Alfonso Soriano, Left Fielder Chicago Cubs
ﾓWeﾒre playing very good,ﾔ Soriano said. ﾓI played with the Yankees, and we have the same talent here. We have a lot of good players, and we had a lot of name players with the Yankees, too.
I think here with this group whatﾒs more important is we feel like a family, and I think we play good because of that. We are very confident.ﾔ
Iroquois Prayer by Anonymous
We return thanks to our mother, the earth,
which sustains us,
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the care of our diseases.
We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squashes,
which give us life.
We return thanks to the bushes and tress,
which provide us with fruit.
We return thanks to the wind,
which, moving the air, has banished diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to our grandfather,
that he has protected his grandchildren from witches and reptiles,
and has give to us his rain.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
President Barack Obama
Inaugural Address of January 20, 2009
ﾅWith hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our childrenﾒs children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and Godﾒs grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generationsﾅ
Randy Pausch
Author of The Last Lecture
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
Shaun Gayle: Formerly of the Chicago Bears
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, and they're throwing dirt on that hole that they're going to put us all in sooner or later, it's going to come down to how you treated people, how you handled situations. That will be the legacy that you leave behind.
Words from the hymn version of Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, an anthem of the Royal British Legion
Make me a channel of your peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, in giving to all men that we receive. And in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Notre Dame Quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, after a come from behind 2008 victory over San Diego State
We've come a long way since last year. We didn't panic when we were down in the fourth quarter and we needed a score -- we needed to get points on the board. We just rallied together.
Hal Wilde at the dedication of the new residence/recreation center at North Central College.
WE did it!
Christmas Wishes
We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. And a We Not Me Year.
By Michael L. Browne, Past District Governor, Rotary Club of Windsor-St. Clair, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
John F. Kennedy stated, "The making of peace is the noblest work of men." We have stopped wars to inoculate children. We hold peace conferences. We feed the hungry and provide clean water. We clothe the needy and provide medical care... Our exchange programs promote peace on a one-on-one basis...ROTARY MAKES PEACE!
J. Michael Joncas
We gather 'round your table,
we pause within our quest,
we stand beside our neighbors,
we name the stranger "guest".
The feast is spread before us;
you bid us come and dine:
in blessing we'll uncover,
in sharing we'll discover
your substance
and your sign.
Refrain:
We come to your feast,
we come to your feast:
the young and the old,
the frightened, the bold,
the greatest and the least.
We come to your feast,
we come to your feast
with the fruit of our lands
and the work of our hands,
we come to your feast.
David G. Myers, Author.
We excel at making a living, but often fail at making a life.
We celebrate our prosperity, but yearn for purpose.
We cherish our freedoms but long for connection.
In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.
What is the
“We Not Me”
movement?
It’s the philosophy that the world does not revolve around us as individuals. It’s a “let’s work together, not alone” attitude.
Want to spread the word on a larger scale?
Opportunities are available for licensing the "We Not Me" message for your team, company, church, community, etc. Let’s discuss how we can work together to better the world.