If we desire to have our
neighbor love us as he loves himself, we must love him as
we love our self.
You are a capitalist. Your money is invested in manufactures, in land, in mines, in merchandise, railways, and ships, or you loan it to others on interest. You employ, directly or indirectly, men to use your capitaL You cannot come to a just conclusion concerning your rights and duties and privileges by looking wholly at your own gains. The glitter of the silver and gold will exercise so potent a spell over your mind that it will blind you to everything else. You can see no interest but your own. The laborer is not known or regarded as a man who has any interests you are bound to regard. You see him only as your slave, your tool, your means of adding to your wealth. In this light he is a friend so far as he serves you, an enemy so far as he does not. But change your point of view. Put yourself in his place; put him in your place. How would you like to have him treat you if you were in his place? Perhaps you have been there. In all probability you have, for the capitalist today was the laborer yesterday, and the laborer today will be the employer tomorrow. You know from lively and painful experience how you would like to be treated. Would you like to be regarded as a mere tool? As a means of enriching another? Would you like to have your wages kept down to the bare necessities of life? Would you like to be regarded with indifference and treated with brutality? Would you like to have your blood, your strength, your soul coined into dollars for the benefit of another?
These questions are easy to answer. Everyone knows that he would rejoice to be treated kindly, to have his interests regarded, his rights recognized and protected. Everyone knows that such regard awakens a response in his own heart. Kindness begets kindness; respect awakens respect. Put yourself in his place. Imagine that you are dealing with yourself and you will have no difficulty in deciding whether you should give the screw another turn, that you may wring a penny more from the muscles of the worker, or relax its pressure, and, if possible, add something to his wages, and give him respect for his service. Do to him as you would have him do to you in changed conditions.
You are a laborer. You receive a certain sum for a day's work. Put yourself in the place of your employer. How would you like to have the men whom you employed work for you? Would you think it right that they should regard you as their enemy? Would you think it honest in them to slight their work, to do as little and to get as much as possible? If you had a large contract which must be completed at a fixed time or you would suffer great loss, would you like to have your workmen take advantage of your necessity to compel an increase of their wages? Would you think it right and wise in them to interfere with you in the management of your business? To dictate whom you should employ, and on what terms you should employ them? Would you not rather have them do honest work in a kind and good spirit? Would you not be much more disposed to look to their interests, to lighten their labor, to increase their wages when you could afford to do so, and look after the welfare of their families, when you found that they also regarded yours? I know that it would be so.
It is true that men are selfish, and that some men are so mean and contracted in spirit that they cannot see any interest but their own; whose hearts, not made of flesh but of silver and gold, are so hard that they are not touched by any human feeling, and care not how much others suffer if they can make a cent by it. But they are the exception, not the rule. We are influenced by the regard and devotion of others to our interests.
You are a capitalist. Your money is invested in manufactures, in land, in mines, in merchandise, railways, and ships, or you loan it to others on interest. You employ, directly or indirectly, men to use your capitaL You cannot come to a just conclusion concerning your rights and duties and privileges by looking wholly at your own gains. The glitter of the silver and gold will exercise so potent a spell over your mind that it will blind you to everything else. You can see no interest but your own. The laborer is not known or regarded as a man who has any interests you are bound to regard. You see him only as your slave, your tool, your means of adding to your wealth. In this light he is a friend so far as he serves you, an enemy so far as he does not. But change your point of view. Put yourself in his place; put him in your place. How would you like to have him treat you if you were in his place? Perhaps you have been there. In all probability you have, for the capitalist today was the laborer yesterday, and the laborer today will be the employer tomorrow. You know from lively and painful experience how you would like to be treated. Would you like to be regarded as a mere tool? As a means of enriching another? Would you like to have your wages kept down to the bare necessities of life? Would you like to be regarded with indifference and treated with brutality? Would you like to have your blood, your strength, your soul coined into dollars for the benefit of another?
These questions are easy to answer. Everyone knows that he would rejoice to be treated kindly, to have his interests regarded, his rights recognized and protected. Everyone knows that such regard awakens a response in his own heart. Kindness begets kindness; respect awakens respect. Put yourself in his place. Imagine that you are dealing with yourself and you will have no difficulty in deciding whether you should give the screw another turn, that you may wring a penny more from the muscles of the worker, or relax its pressure, and, if possible, add something to his wages, and give him respect for his service. Do to him as you would have him do to you in changed conditions.
You are a laborer. You receive a certain sum for a day's work. Put yourself in the place of your employer. How would you like to have the men whom you employed work for you? Would you think it right that they should regard you as their enemy? Would you think it honest in them to slight their work, to do as little and to get as much as possible? If you had a large contract which must be completed at a fixed time or you would suffer great loss, would you like to have your workmen take advantage of your necessity to compel an increase of their wages? Would you think it right and wise in them to interfere with you in the management of your business? To dictate whom you should employ, and on what terms you should employ them? Would you not rather have them do honest work in a kind and good spirit? Would you not be much more disposed to look to their interests, to lighten their labor, to increase their wages when you could afford to do so, and look after the welfare of their families, when you found that they also regarded yours? I know that it would be so.
It is true that men are selfish, and that some men are so mean and contracted in spirit that they cannot see any interest but their own; whose hearts, not made of flesh but of silver and gold, are so hard that they are not touched by any human feeling, and care not how much others suffer if they can make a cent by it. But they are the exception, not the rule. We are influenced by the regard and devotion of others to our interests.
HE WHO LIVES ONLY
TO BENEFIT HIMSELF
CONFERS ON THE WORLD
A BENEFIT WHEN HE DIES.
-Tertullian
The laborer who knows that his employer feels kindly toward
him, desires to treat him justly and to regard his good, will do
better work and more of it, and will be disposed to look to
his employer's interests as well as his own.
TAKE THE TROUBLE TO
STOP AND THINK OF THE
OTHER PERSON'S FEELINGS,
HIS VIEWPOINTS, HIS DESIRES
AND NEEDS. THINK MORE OF
WHAT THE OTHER FELLOW WANTS,
AND HOW HE MUST FEEL.
-Maxwell Maltz
When the mind is inflamed by passion, men will not
listen to reason. They become blind to their own interests
and regardless of the interests of others. Difficulties are never
settled while passion rages. They are never settled by conflict. One party may be subdued by power; but the sense of
wrong will remain; the fire of passion will slumber, ready to
break out again on the first occasion. But let the laborer or
the capitalist feel assured that the other party has no wish
to take any advantage, that there is a sincere desire and determination on both sides to be just and pay due regard to their
common interests, and all the conflict between them would
cease, as the wild waves of the ocean sink to calm when the
winds are at rest.
The laborer and the capitalist have a mutual and common
interest. Neither can permanently prosper without the prosperity of the other. They are parts of one body. If labor is
the arm, capital is the blood. Devitalize or waste the blood,
and the arm loses its power. Destroy the arm, and the blood
is useless. Let each care for the other, and both are benefited.
Let each take the Golden Rule as a gUide, and all cause of
hostility will be removed, all conflict will cease, and they will
go hand in hand to do their work and reap their just reward.
Comments
Post a Comment