On behalf of the men and women who work alongside me at The Modesto Bee's downtown headquarters, I offer you warm wishes for a healthy and happy New Year. I write those two words — happy and healthy — in particular because we're both of those as we move through our 85th year of delivering news and information to residents of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
"Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody." Benjamin Franklin — the famous American scientist, inventor, printer, Founding Father and kite flyer — was neither the first nor the last to warn against speaking ill of others.
For most of us, the familiar saying, "It's better to give than to receive," is especially true when it comes to criticism. At the very least, it's certainly a lot easier to give it than to receive it. Yet there can be great value in both giving and receiving criticism.
