Can Your Work Prevent Economic Collapse?
Sorry to put this on you. But your work - and mine - will either cause or prevent economic collapse. Okay, maybe not just you and me, but when you include all the "you's" and "me's" out there, that's what will either cause or prevent economic collapse.
But wait. Didn't we already have an economic collapse? Well, kind of. We had a financial crisis that led to a bad recession. Maybe you're suffering from the effects of it right now. Maybe you're out of work, or worried that you might be. Maybe your pay's been cut. Maybe you're working only part-time because you can't find a full-time position right now.
Whatever you're doing, however you're working, your job, your work, will determine how and when things get better - or if we wind up with yet another collapse - this one even worse than the last one (and it really is possible).
Even if you're out of work, you're part of the action here. Just looking for a job is a kind of work (believe me, I've been there). And one of these days you'll find someone willing to pay you for your time and expertise - or you'll start up your own business. (Be patient. Pray. God will help.)
But the point of this post is simply this: we're all responsible for whether the economy wakes up and makes some sense again, or whether it loses steam or just falls off a cliff.
I'm not making this up. Pope Benedict more or less says this. What he specifically says is that an economic system (that's you and me working at our jobs) which takes into account the common good depends on an ethical system, which is sustained only by strong religious convictions. Let's look a little closer at what he's saying here and why it's you and me that are at the center of the action here.
First of all, any economic system worth its salt - any fair, just economic system - must, i.e. MUST, take into account the common good. If you and I just work for ourselves, just want to make money, never care about anyone else, then we wind up with an economic system that's not fair and just. Look at it this way, if all of us working don't give a damn about anyone else and we're only in our work for ourselves, then when you put us all together you get a system made up of millions of selfish actions. And that leaves us with an economic system that doesn't take into account the common good.
So let's at least accept that we need - each of us - to work with some idea of the common good in mind, and not just work strictly for our own selfish ends. Okay?
Now, if we can accept that - and how could you be a Catholic and not accept that? - then you can understand why you've got to have some sort of ethical system in place to guide us in working for the common good, right? I mean it's not just a matter of what you feel like doing or not doing today; it's a matter of doing what's right and good, yes? You've got to know what's good vs. what's not good. That's an ethical system.
But what's this about religion - specifically having strong religious convictions (not just religious convictions; strong religious convictions)? C'mon. You know how people are. It's really easy to say you want to do the right thing, then just kind of slip back into your typical selfish ways. The only way you can sustain an effort to do good, to always strive to do what's right, is with your religious conviction.
Sure, I know that there are people out there who claim to be atheists and who seem to act in what you and I might consider an ethical manner (although I'm not so sure they're as consistent and right as they could be if they believed in God). But even if we think those atheists are really good and sincere, there just aren't that many of them. For the rest of us, we need religion to keep us on the straight and narrow. (You know what I mean.)
Why is it so important to have something - specifically strong religious convictions - to sustain us in our working as we should, i.e., for the common good? The Pope says that when religious convictions waver, a decline in religious convictions can cause the market to collapse.
Now, I don't know how much you've been following the recent financial crisis and its aftermath, but you'd have to be blind not to see the role that unethical behavior, in fact downright bad behavior, played in all this. The Pope is right!
And what's really amazing about the Pope's comments - about his insight - is that he said this in 1986, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, way before the recent economic crisis. Back then, the world's economy wasn't doing too badly. But he understood the basics of what makes a good - and ethical - economy. And he understood this whole idea that without an ethical foundation, the economy's pretty much doomed to collapse in the end.
Which brings us back to what we all do every day in our work. We're the ones who need to understand all this and work in an ethical manner, sustained and motivated by our strong religious convictions - our Catholic faith. Us Catholic men at work can keep the economy going, or we can contribute to it's collapse.
It's as simple as that.
But wait. Didn't we already have an economic collapse? Well, kind of. We had a financial crisis that led to a bad recession. Maybe you're suffering from the effects of it right now. Maybe you're out of work, or worried that you might be. Maybe your pay's been cut. Maybe you're working only part-time because you can't find a full-time position right now.
Whatever you're doing, however you're working, your job, your work, will determine how and when things get better - or if we wind up with yet another collapse - this one even worse than the last one (and it really is possible).
Even if you're out of work, you're part of the action here. Just looking for a job is a kind of work (believe me, I've been there). And one of these days you'll find someone willing to pay you for your time and expertise - or you'll start up your own business. (Be patient. Pray. God will help.)
But the point of this post is simply this: we're all responsible for whether the economy wakes up and makes some sense again, or whether it loses steam or just falls off a cliff.
I'm not making this up. Pope Benedict more or less says this. What he specifically says is that an economic system (that's you and me working at our jobs) which takes into account the common good depends on an ethical system, which is sustained only by strong religious convictions. Let's look a little closer at what he's saying here and why it's you and me that are at the center of the action here.
First of all, any economic system worth its salt - any fair, just economic system - must, i.e. MUST, take into account the common good. If you and I just work for ourselves, just want to make money, never care about anyone else, then we wind up with an economic system that's not fair and just. Look at it this way, if all of us working don't give a damn about anyone else and we're only in our work for ourselves, then when you put us all together you get a system made up of millions of selfish actions. And that leaves us with an economic system that doesn't take into account the common good.
So let's at least accept that we need - each of us - to work with some idea of the common good in mind, and not just work strictly for our own selfish ends. Okay?
Now, if we can accept that - and how could you be a Catholic and not accept that? - then you can understand why you've got to have some sort of ethical system in place to guide us in working for the common good, right? I mean it's not just a matter of what you feel like doing or not doing today; it's a matter of doing what's right and good, yes? You've got to know what's good vs. what's not good. That's an ethical system.
But what's this about religion - specifically having strong religious convictions (not just religious convictions; strong religious convictions)? C'mon. You know how people are. It's really easy to say you want to do the right thing, then just kind of slip back into your typical selfish ways. The only way you can sustain an effort to do good, to always strive to do what's right, is with your religious conviction.
Sure, I know that there are people out there who claim to be atheists and who seem to act in what you and I might consider an ethical manner (although I'm not so sure they're as consistent and right as they could be if they believed in God). But even if we think those atheists are really good and sincere, there just aren't that many of them. For the rest of us, we need religion to keep us on the straight and narrow. (You know what I mean.)
Why is it so important to have something - specifically strong religious convictions - to sustain us in our working as we should, i.e., for the common good? The Pope says that when religious convictions waver, a decline in religious convictions can cause the market to collapse.
Now, I don't know how much you've been following the recent financial crisis and its aftermath, but you'd have to be blind not to see the role that unethical behavior, in fact downright bad behavior, played in all this. The Pope is right!
And what's really amazing about the Pope's comments - about his insight - is that he said this in 1986, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, way before the recent economic crisis. Back then, the world's economy wasn't doing too badly. But he understood the basics of what makes a good - and ethical - economy. And he understood this whole idea that without an ethical foundation, the economy's pretty much doomed to collapse in the end.
Which brings us back to what we all do every day in our work. We're the ones who need to understand all this and work in an ethical manner, sustained and motivated by our strong religious convictions - our Catholic faith. Us Catholic men at work can keep the economy going, or we can contribute to it's collapse.
It's as simple as that.
Comments