‘If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don’t make it a leg.’ – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.

I was reminded of this quote when the whole Don Imus fiasco occurred earlier this month. If you aren’t familiar with the story, Imus is a "shock jock" on the radio who is best described as controversial. Not quite in the "class" of Howard Stern, but in the same neighborhood. He said some rather distasteful things about the Rutgers women’s basketball team that created a massive stir in the media.

The players as well as their coach publicly stated how hurt they were, how the statements tore them down, etc. Imus offered an apology, but was still fired, and rightfully so.

The real tragedy of this story is not that Imus made racially slanderous statements, but that the coach and the players didn’t stand up and say, "Don Imus can say anything he wants about us, it doesn’t make it true." Just as Lincoln stated above, calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it so. And just because someone says something hurtful and negative about you doesn’t make it fact.

Sappy or not, the only person that can hurt you emotionally is you, as you have to allow it. Picture this: ten people are in a room, and nine of them offer you a verbal compliment, and one tears your down with a negative opinion. What do you carry with you for years? The compliments? No! The one negative comment … and you replay it over and over in your mind.

In May, rise above the chatter, and start becoming the person and leader you know you can be. There will always be someone who doesn’t like you and will speak negatively about you. Always remember that just because someone says it, it doesn’t make it true.

You know the truth. Now live it.