In the fourth grade, the students read about Tommy, who rakes leaves for a neighbor all day. His younger brother rakes with him for an hour, but then plays with the neighbor's dog for the rest of the day. The neighbor pays Tommy ten dollars and the little brother one dollar.
When Tommy gets home, his mom says, "Tommy, you have to share the money equally with your brother. He's little and couldn't work as hard. He'll feel bad if you don't share with him."
In this fictional scenario, the students considered the values of justice, self-reliance, and productivity. If such incidents become routine, what happens to Tommy's motivation to continue working when his hard-earned money is given to his brother who does not work? And what happens to Little Brother when he learns that he doesn't need to work-- he can just rely on Tommy for his money?
Forcing Tommy to give the money to his little brother ignores his right to property--to keep what he has earned. When we take earnings from people, we constrict the right to their property.
It may seem that his little brother gets the best deal. But in actuality, if the leaf-raking day is repeated, he will not develop his self-worth and the deep joy of being self-reliant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guess, President Obama didn't learn this in his school. 'Nough said.
No comments:
Post a Comment