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 In
depression days one W.P.A. workman had nothing to take for lunch
but turnip green sandwiches. He was a patient man, trying to be
content with his lot, but turnip green sandwiches have a way of
making a fellow long for better things — and that makes for
temptation. One day he went to the truck a few minutes before
noon, and switched his lunch sack for that of a fellow worker.
As he hurried to a distant nook he could hardly wait to feast on
his ill-gotten prize. But when he opened the sack guess what he
found. Six hickory nuts and a hammer!
Today’s
working man is not, for the most part, struggling against
starvation and tyrannical bosses. He has a more subtle enemy:
inflation, and social adjustments that tear at his will to work.
The latter has been all but ignored for some time; but now we
are hearing more about need for a “work ethic,” and we may
find that the lack of such has had much to do with inflation.
Sociologists speak of the “Protestant work ethic,” and
sometimes laugh at its moral background — nervously — but
they praise the net results.
Higher
wages, longer vacations, and better working conditions have not
improved the “work ethic.” In fact, the more the worker
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is given the less he seems to care
about doing his job well; but this is not to say that going back
to poor working conditions and benefits would restore respect
for the job. No, the basis for “ethics” is a sense of moral
responsibility. It thrives best where people recognize the
presence of God, and laws from a divine source.
Faith
in God gives men purpose in life; helps to overcome despair, and
binds families together in a way practically unknown in today’s
blasé society. Presidential appeals, laws, and affluence can
not restore what atheism and disrespect for authority have taken
away. God’s word recognizes a legitimate desire for “better
things.” It lifts one above an indolent, “don’t care”
attitude, but it finds satisfaction in that which may be
attained by honorable means, and without sacrificing heavenly
goals.
The
scriptures state it simply: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye
shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the
Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23-24). That’s incentive no lunch can
match!
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