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| Billie Silvey |
| Masters and Servants |
| August 2006 |
| My friend George Garrigues recently wrote a book about his father Brick, a journalist and amateur economist. George wove letters, memories and research into a rich fabric of the history of California and the life of an individual man. At one point in the book, Dickie, his wife, “had left her job as a secretary and set herself up as the owner of a secretarial service, the beginning of a long career as a business-woman in our little town." In a letter about it, Brick writes, "The only people who get rich are the people who hire other people to do the work and who do the managing themselves. Nobody yet ever got rich by working--only by working the other fellow. And that means paying somebody else five dollars for work that you get paid ten for.”(1) I never used to think that way. I grew up thinking that, if a person worked hard and was honest, they’d be well rewarded for their efforts. Now I realize that, in a world of global markets and corporate graft, with a disappearing middle class, the rich really do get richer and the poor get poorer, no matter how hard they work. If God didn’t take care of us and protect us from those who would take advantage, we would surely perish. Having been an employee most of my life but having had employees and volunteers at Life Skills Lab, I find advantages and disadvantages in both situations. Employees 1. Have to follow instructions. 2. Have the potential of too much routine and not enough creativity. 3. Have good ideas that may not be listened to. 4. Are in a position of reduced respect and rewards. At the same time, Employers 1. Are responsible for the livelihood of others, a heavy burden. 2. Have many different kinds of things to learn and do. 3. Are responsible to sort through ideas from a variety of sources--some good and some not so. 4. Have respect, but not always certainty that a particular course of action is the best one. Perhaps recognizing the advantages and disadvantages of both roles, Paul spoke to both slaves and masters, the employees and employers of his time. “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart,” he says. And “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him” (Ephesians 6:5-8). (1)Garrigues, George, He Usually Lived with a Female, The Life of a California Newspaperman (2006: Quail Creek Press), p. 327. |
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