Week 3 Honest and Business Ethics

I really enjoyed this week's focus.  The Lynn G. Robbins devotional was so excellent.  I made my husband and daughter listen to it on Wednesday night, and I sent it to my son.  I was particularly struck by the A-D levels regarding all types of professions, with lots of examples of each kind.  When he asked what kind of carpenter we thought Jesus would have been, for some reason that really struck me.  I honestly had never stopped to consider what kind of carpenter Jesus was.  I started to think about the people who came into His shop, and how they would have been treated, the things he would have made, and their quality.  

I also loved the emphasis in the beginning of the devotional on pride.  I am definitely guilty of the sin of pride.  I think most of us are.  I have a lot of pride about my ability to quickly find the main idea of a report, presentation, or research paper.  I get impatient with people who I perceive to be 'dumb'.  The truth is, no one is dumb.  Everyone has something that they were born with that they excel in.  And I am really lacking in certain intelligences too.  Knowing that reduces pride.  I love the C.S. Lewis quote that pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of that something than other people (paraphrase).  That is SO true.  Would I be at all proud if I had no one to compare myself to?  Ezra T. Benson tells us that pride is essentially competitive in nature.  And this leads us to make every man our competitor by pitting their intellect, opinion, works, wealth, talents, looks against ours.  What a sad way to live when you think about it!  Do I want every person I interact with to be my competitor?  NO.  

Interestingly, I've been reading a book called Boys Adrift that talks about how good competition is for many boys, that they were born competitive, and it really resonated with me.  There is an all boys school in Maryland where the entire school system is based on competition.  When you're enrolled at the school, you're randomly assigned to one of two teams.  These two teams compete in everything, academics, sports, all the things.  And the boys in these schools are thriving.  The premise is that boy's and girl's (or men's and women's) brains are different, and boys can compete with good feelings usually intact when it's all over.  I do believe that God has put different qualities inside of men and women, and that men are usually more competitive in order to drive them into battle, adventure, and using their strength in the service of others.

I guess the difference between healthy competition and the toxic kind mentioned by President Benson and Lewis, is that the toxic kind makes you feel that you are actually better than (or worse than) the other person AS A HUMAN BEING.  That's definitely not a Godly principle.  


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