Blessings Overflow to Those Who Work

A university professor once made the following proposal to students who argued that everyone in society should enjoy equal wealth. What if every student in the class received the same grade based on the class average? All the students agreed, and before long they took their first exam. The class average was a B. Every student received a B for the first test. The students who had studied hard complained, while those who had only fooled around were pleased.

A little later, they took a second exam. The students who had not studied continued not to study, and even those who had worked hard before decided not to prepare, thinking they could free-ride. In the end, the class average came out to a D, and everyone received that grade. This time all the students complained about their grades, but still no one was willing to study hard. As a result, on the third exam everyone received an F, and from then until the end of the semester they got F’s on every test. The students blamed and even cursed one another, but no one tried to study. In the end, every student received an F on the final report card.

This is a story created in the United States to point out the fallacy of welfare policy. It vividly shows that attempts to divide everything equally are bound to fail. If what a person earns through his own effort is to be handed over to others without compensation, who would want to work hard?

“The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor” (Proverbs 21:25).

Build wealth with your own hands

Today, no one thinks of Argentina as a rich country. But long ago, Argentina was a prosperous nation. It was a land of opportunity, and people enjoyed abundance. Then Argentina gradually lost its vitality as it put equality first and expanded welfare. Even now, the Argentine people enjoy enormous welfare benefits, yet they still protest constantly. Workers, teachers, low-income groups, farmers, the elderly, and many other segments of society all take to the streets demanding more welfare benefits—higher wages, expanded living subsidies, increased pension payments, and more. Their endless demands for benefits are like drinking seawater while continuing to complain of thirst. The cause is excessive, vote-buying welfare policy.

In fact, as recently as the 1940s, Argentina was one of the world’s leading wealthy nations. At the time, backed by top-grade agricultural products produced on its vast and fertile land, abundant natural resources, and labor, Argentina boasted the world’s 5th-largest economy. But today it is overflowing with the poor and unemployed, while chronic inflation continues unabated. Most people cannot withstand soaring prices, social order has collapsed, and crime has risen.

“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6).

Complaining does not improve the situation

Recently, claims have frequently appeared that the state should do more for the welfare of its people. Major media outlets pour out articles day after day insisting that upward mobility is now impossible for the younger generation. It is indeed a troubling story. The moment we begin to define this as an era in which young people can no longer rise through their own efforts, unhappiness and dissatisfaction begin to pile up. This way of thinking is truly dangerous. It limits one’s own possibilities and traps one inside that frame.

Do young people really have no opportunity at all to succeed? I can say with certainty that opportunities still exist. Whether in earlier generations or now, the same anxiety and uncertainty accompany people when they first begin life in society. Office workers who must make ends meet on their monthly salary are still struggling with their “meager paychecks.” Anxiety and uncertainty are by no means feelings unique to today’s young generation. Yet some young people mistakenly believe that only they are in an unstable position, forgetting entirely that they have enjoyed quality education and social benefits as a generation raised in relative abundance.

Today’s younger generation, having grown up in plenty, has not experienced the suffering of real poverty. Very few have gone hungry or been unable to receive any education at all. For that reason, compared with the young people of the past in Korea, today’s youth have lived with far greater benefits, and because their own thinking is not firmly established, they may tend to seek the cause of problems outside themselves rather than within.

In fact, one young person posted the following on Twitter:

“The problem right now is the social system. No matter how hard you work trying to make something of yourself, the law and the system don’t support you, so self-made success is impossible. Just look around—how can anyone make it alone in a world where big corporations squeeze profits out of small and medium-sized businesses?”

Underlying this post is already the idea that “there is no hope.” Are we really living in an age in which self-made success is impossible because the social system is broken? It is hard to nod along too quickly, however, because there are actually quite a few self-made people around us, and they are frequently featured in broadcasting and the press.

“The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!’” (Proverbs 26:13).

The same is true of becoming self-made. Since self-made success is ultimately an individual matter, there is no reason to blame the possibility of it. Already, far more people are enjoying a much higher quality of life than in the past. Even now, the world is changing and advancing rapidly, becoming more intricate than before. And in those narrow gaps, new opportunities continue to emerge. Any gap someone has already discovered is an opportunity everyone knows about. Today’s younger generation must find its own new openings suited to this age.

“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4).

Labor benefits our lives in many ways

There are people who need welfare policy: child heads of household, the disabled, elderly people living alone, and others who have difficulty taking responsibility for their own lives. People naturally try to help those in need voluntarily. Government welfare policy should ideally be limited to supplementing what cannot be resolved through such voluntary welfare spending. If not, welfare spending extended even to those who are capable of supporting themselves through work will instead harm their lives.

Working is a way of improving one’s life, but it is also rewarding and gives vitality to life. The positive effects of labor—achievement, fulfillment, and self-realization—do not apply to pensioners who engage in no productive activity at all. Rather than retiring in one’s 60s and spending old age in helplessness, contributing to society with the maturity and wisdom accumulated over many years through work would have a more positive effect on both the individual and society. When older people have jobs, their health improves through regular exercise and increased activity, and naturally they visit hospitals less often. According to a government survey of 1,220 employed elderly people, after gaining employment 6% escaped poverty, their health improved, and their medical expenses fell by about 190,000 won per person. It is not that people work because they are healthy; rather, they are healthy because they work. That is one of life’s hidden truths.

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Proverbs 13:4).

What the future looks like depends on what you do now

Oprah Winfrey turned her life into a luxury brand. As a result, she rose from being the daughter of a poor Black single mother to a global tycoon with assets of $3 billion. Her life gave rise to what might be called “Oprahism”—the idea that success in life depends entirely on the individual. Your life too can become something exceptional, depending on how you shape it.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

How would you feel if someone said, “The world is inherently unfair. Don’t complain—accept it”? If it were a remark from Bill Gates, the world’s richest billionaire, it might make your thoughts even more complicated. I suspect more people would feel indignant than sympathetic. Some would object, asking whether it is really right that some are born with a silver spoon while others are not. People may differ in their views, but the undeniable reality that the world is unfair does not change.

Even apart from Bill Gates’s words, the world is unfair. Among people living in the same country at the same time, unfairness may stand out more because comparison is so easy. So let us turn our gaze beyond national borders. In truth, being born in and living in an advanced country rather than in the Third World is also unfair. If we imagine the world as a village of 100 people, anyone who has money in the bank, cash in a wallet, and coins lying around somewhere at home belongs among the eight wealthiest people in the village. I do not know how happy each reader of this piece feels, but most are probably among those eight.

Let us also think about the age in which we live. We are living, in our own way, in a relatively peaceful era of liberal democracy. Imagine instead being born in the colonial era, in a feudal dynasty, or worse still in the midst of a world war. You might not even have lived out your natural lifespan. The differences in time and space are simply too great for us to feel the unfairness directly through comparison. I am not saying that because we are relatively fortunate, we should simply remain as we are. I only mean that it is right to acknowledge reality as it is. Only then can we open the door to the next stage. If we live with hearts full of complaint and resentment, nothing can be changed. It is easy to rage, but it is not easy to accept reality and seek a path toward improvement. But that is the path we must take.

As we overcome the large and small difficulties we encounter in life, whatever they may be becomes an asset. Is there not a saying that the word “crisis” contains both danger and opportunity? Trials are stepping-stones to success. If you think positively and keep adding effort upon effort, the day will come when you can look back on your present circumstances with a smile.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23–24).

The world is unfair, but that is not where the story ends. The world is harsher toward those who collapse before hardship, but it grants unseen help to those who strive. There are names that cannot be left out of Helen A. Keller’s life: Anne Sullivan, her teacher, and Polly Thompson, the assistant who followed her. For more than half a century, Anne and Polly served as Helen’s eyes and ears, and to Helen they were benefactors no less indispensable than her parents. But Anne and Polly’s sacrifice and devotion would have meant nothing if Helen had despaired and given up in the face of her unfair fate. Helen’s successful life was possible because she did not abandon herself but kept pressing forward. Because Helen helped herself, perhaps fate sent her devoted helpers like Anne and Polly.

If you do not collapse in complaint, heaven will help you as you help yourself. Around you too are people—your parents, teachers, friends, and others—who are striving for your sake. Let us not make their efforts and prayers vain. Our lives are far too precious to spend them merely complaining.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9–10).

choi3639@gmail.com

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Original title: 일하는 자에게는 복이 넘치나니

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2021-11-26

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=24345