https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111520.cfm
I quote:
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork
end quote
When attending college in London I had the good fortune to befriend one of my lecturers the result of buying one of two books that he had published on the risks, and rewards of investing in the stock market. Despite having no money to invest in anything I was disposed to learning all that I could about how the free enterprise system worked.
My first year in college my Uncle William provided me with a well worn copy of Tolstoy's "War, and Peace" as a Christmas gift leading me to research into the life of Count Leo Tolstoy, learning that he had a difficult relationship with the hierarchy of The Russian Orthodox Church, arising from his determination to do more than write great novels. Tolstoy learnt from practical day, to day living with his fellow Russian that ones actions, must speak louder than ones words. In other words Leo Tolstoy chose to share the rewards accruing from his published works with the employees of his estates, ensuring that every single worker was treated as if Tolstoy were the humble employee on the receiving end of his benevolence.
“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." ~ Matthew 7:12
Count Tolstoy would die in 1910 some several years before Bolshevik revolutionaries would invade the estates now owned by his children, discovering that the estate employees continued to benefit from the earlier actions of Leo Tolstoy sharing his good fortune with his estate workers. No change in the manner that the estates were managed was considered necessary, with the Bolshevik Commissar observing that Tolstoy's actions were inspired by one Jesus of Nazareth inviting His followers to celebrate life by investing in the lives of those who by perceived chance were their neighbours.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ~ Count Leo Tolstoy
end
Responses