Two saints today, take your pick, depending on your own predilections. If you're a true-blue American (or even a blue-collar American), consider the life of Lou Gehrig, born on this date of emigrant parents in New York City in 1903, died of Lou Gehrig's disease (yes, they named a disease, amyotropic lateral sclerosis, after him!) on June 2, 1941. Gehrig was a ballplayer, a first baseman for the New York Yankees from 1925 to 1939. He was icknamed the Iron Horse, because he established a record, playing in 2,130 consecutive major league games. He batted fourth in the Yankee lineup, right behind Babe Ruth, and he had a career batting average of .340, 493 home runs, and 1,990 runs batted in (including American League season record of 184 in 1931). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, and Gary Cooper even played him in a movie.

MODEL: Good attendance, no phony sick days. If people know they can count on you, you'll make them successful. And, sometimes, they will even reward you.

Or, if you're more of a nerdy type, you can elect another saint to model yourself on today: Blaise Pasacal, a French scientist and philosopher who lived from 1623 to 1662. Pascal was a mathematical prodigy as a child. He completed an original treatise on conic sections at age of sixteen, studied infinitesimal calculus, solved the problem of the general quadrature of the cycloid, contributed to the development of differential calculus, and originated, with Fermat, the mathematical theory of probability. In the years 1642-1645, he invented a mechanical calculator, the syringe, and the hydraulic press. From 1651 to 1654, he wrote treatises on the equilibrium of liquid solutions, on the weight and density of air, and on the arithmetic triangle. His significant literary work began with his entrance into the Jansenist community at Port-Royal in 1655. There, he defended Jansenism against attacks by the Jesuits. His major fame rests on a book of essays, called Pensees, which were published in 1670, from manuscript notes left by him.

MODEL: Pascal was a great thinker and a penetrating writer, but he was no saint. As a Jansenist, he was too rigorous, too hard on others. Saints are hard on themselves, but they're easy on others. So, memorializing Pascal today, try to take a hard look at your own sins, and do something to correct them. But give the rest of us a break, okay?

A note of advice: .

Also born on this day: