The Work of the People
So often we are told it is good, very important, to have self-esteem. We watch the entertainers and entertainer wanna' be's on television. We marvel at their arrogance, especially when they have no talent to back up their flamboyancy.
Do employers waste a lot of money hiring the wrong person because their resume was who they'd like to be, not who they are? Too bad employers can't use some DNA test to determine who would be a good fit and who wouldn't. But then we'd want to use that same test to determine who can live here and who must live there, and eventually, who gets to live at all.
Do we already have a test like that? It isn't really a test and it certainly isn't scientific, but we do it none the less. We have no DNA tests to identify talent or good employees. If we did, we'd abuse it. By the way, are DNA tests, or their interpretation, ever wrong?
Since we have yet to come up with a facsimile of the DNA test we could use for hiring etc. we must judge, discern, figure things out for ourselves. The bottom line is always, always what's most important. After all, the stockholders must be reckoned with.
Yeah, but, do we ever figure things out for ourselves? Do we always follow someone else because we are too busy to make decisions based on our own research and experience? Are we stockholders aching for a dividend, but too lazy to participate in the process?
We seem to be like the people who never volunteer, never get involved, never take a stand. You know who I'm talking about, but they're the first ones to criticize and say, "I'd have done it this way."
Of course there is an ancient DNA test. However, it has been abused, misunderstood, spun, worshipped by some and ignored by others. Who can take the time to read it, 'all of it?' Besides, there is just too much that has to be done, too many decisions I need someone else to make for me, and too many whacko's who claim it as their mentor. I don't have time to read the Bible.
We're the silent, cowering stockholders; afraid to make a decision least the other silent, cowering stockholders ridicule us for making a fool of ourselves. It's much better to safely sit in the shadows and say who has talent and who doesn't, who should go on and who shouldn't, who can live and who can't. Then we can complain when our bottom line isn't there.
Commenting on Psalm 32:1, the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers wrote that the person who knows God has forgiven them has no boastings of righteousness in his mouth. This is because the conscience is full of the awareness of its own sins.
Scripture doesn't tell me since God has forgotten my sins I should too. Neither am I supposed to live in remorse. I am supposed to live in the joy of the Lord, knowing that God has forgiven me, but also knowing that any so called righteousness I may think I have ... is like filthy rags. Removing the beam from my own eyes before I judge another's splinter is not a one-time event. I am never supposed to judge another person, but certainly I should judge their actions. I am a stockholder.
Being an American is not about judging who has talent in America. It is not about being a cowering stockholder afraid to get involved, only yearning for unearned dividends. Being an American is about applying the DNA test to the actions, not the people, who are growing or diminishing the bottom line.
If you don't read the Bible can you ever understand the bottom line is not, what's best for me?
Comments