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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Good Moral Tale

Jim Hightower has an interesting article at Altnet about the leaders of the large banks saying they deserve their huge bonuses and are doing, "God's work." Hightower spoke at a union convention here a few years ago and I read his book Thieves In High Places. It's well worth the read. Anyway here's the quote I really liked from today's article:

Nonetheless, this clueless clique is actually claiming that we commoners should be applauding the return of their multimillion-dollar bonus bonanzas. Why? Because, they aver, the rich payouts allow them to contribute to charity.

Such narcissism reminds me of a story about a selfish, no-good rich man who died and tried to get into heaven. But you can't just walk through the Pearly Gates. An angel reviews your life, then St. Peter decides if you can enter. To counter the angel's negative review, the rich man argued that he had a history of charitable giving. He'd once tossed a nickel into a beggar's cup, he pointed out. Plus, some years later, he had aided a poor woman by giving her a nickel. Then there was the time he put a nickel into the Salvation Army kettle.

Hearing all this, the angel turned to St. Peter and asked, "What in the world should we do with this man?" And St. Peter said, "Give him back his 15 cents, and tell him to go to hell!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let me ask you something then......What is the difference between Serving God and Serving his power?

Unknown said...

i seem to recall seeing somewhere - likely a u.s. census or i.r.s. site - that median-income folks give a WHOLE LOT MORE to charity - as a percent of income - than the upper 0.1%!

P M Prescott said...

Anon, God is Love, not power. You serve God by serving others. Basic question asked and answered in Sunday School class at around 3rd grade. At least it was before power hungry egomaniacs saying whatever they dreamed up was God's word took over the SBC. They are the ones who worship power.

P M Prescott said...

Russ, the widow's mite always does more to help than the showy pretense of the rich, who always attach strings to their money.

Unknown said...

Narcissism is more prevalent than ever from the people I have experienced, PM. Last night, I had a debate with two women in their late 20's who couldn't understand the concept of becoming friends before anything else in a relationship as a sort of building block. All they could focus on was instant attraction. They sounded like idiots, to be perfectly honest. This is the thinking of many who have an "I, Me, Mine" concept of acquiring what they want without becoming the type of person who knows what it is to give back to society. A worthy post!

P M Prescott said...

Michael, Ayn Rand's objectivism seems to be the prevailing philosopy today and it's frightening.