Do not take anything for granted. (Editing).If managers are advised to "push the envelope," to "think outside the box," reporters and editors, I learned recently, might well be advised to question the very shape, or even the existence, of the envelope or the box. Do not take even the obvious for granted. A couple of years ago I wrote a brief history of the neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. Beekman Arms, "the oldest continuously operating inn in America." Since then I've received two corrections from guests--both of which overturned what I took for granted.. * I wrote, "Gen. Richard Montgomery For the Tennessee House of Representatives member, see Richard Montgomery. For the high school, see Richard Montgomery High School. Richard Montgomery (December 2, 1736 – December 31, 1775) was an Irish-American soldier who served as a major general in the Continental Army married Col. Henry Beekman's granddaughter Janet Livingston shortly before heroically winning, but never coming back from, the Seige of Quebec, in December 1775." Leave it to a Canadian to point out that the Americans did not win the Battle of Quebec The term Battle of Quebec can mean:
I took for it granted that if you're a hero you won the battle. Now I know you can be a hero in defeat. Montgomery was killed in the battle (and Arnold suffered a serious wound for which he not properly compensated--the first of several disappointments which some say led to his eventual treason treason, legal term for various acts of disloyalty. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350), originally distinguished high treason from petit (or petty) treason. Petit treason was the murder of one's lawful superior, e.g. ). * In the very next sentence I wrote, "Col. Beekman's grandson Robert Livingston Robert Livingston was the name of several men, many of whom were members of a prominent family that effectively ran New York throughout the colonial and Federal periods. I liked the cadence of the sentence, but I was wrong I was informed by e-mail last week. Robert did help draft the Declaration but did not sign it. A relative of his, Philip Livingston Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778), was an American merchant and statesman from New York City. He was a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1778, and signed the Declaration of Independence. , was the only Livingston to sign it. I took it for granted that if you helped draft a document that important, you also signed it. Take nothing for granted. |
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