09/03/2024
ABUNDANT LIVING
Volume XX, Issue 36
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” - Luke 12:48
We’re all in this together. I think that is the point Fiorello LaGuardia, New York City’s colorful Depression-era mayor, was trying to make when on a cold January night in 1935 he turned up at a night court that happened to serve the poorest ward of the city. Dismissing the judge for the evening the mayor took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. LaGuardia sighed. He then turned to the woman and said, “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions – ten dollars or ten days in jail. Simultaneously he reached into his own pocket producing the ten dollars to cover the fine. “Here is the ten-dollar fine which I now remit. And furthermore, I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat.” The following day the newspapers reported that $47.50 had been collected and handed over to the bewildered old lady.
My first job in the financial services industry was with a large regional bank in Fort Worth, Texas. There was a legendary story about that fine institution that defined its culture for years. During the Great Depression when banks were failing and unemployment was rampant, rather than laying people off the decision was made that there would be an across-the-board pay cut. “We’re all in this together,” in other words, and by taking that position the bank was able to maintain its solvency and the employees were able to maintain their employment so they could take care of their families.
The right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are among our nation’s core principles, but such personal rights also carry great responsibilities, such as being good citizens, including tending to the wellbeing of others. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded,” the scriptures remind us. Mayor LaGuardia certainly made that loud and clear in his courtroom that cold January night, as did my old employer in the way it cared for the wellbeing of its employees during those dark days. We’re all in this together, something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
September 2, 2024
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