For Christians and spiritual scholars (if there can be such a thing), at least two of the three parts of the title may be recognized as such. Probably the first two: the bag of talents and the profitable servant. As to the pile of manure, perhaps not so much. But I will endeavor to explain.
I will even go so far as to implicate American social and economic policy, by conjoining it as a pile of manure, expressly or impliedly, one way or the other. I will suggest that all three are aligned: talents, profit, and a pile of manure.
Among many others [1], two great parables of Jesus are The Parable of the Talents [2.1] and The Parable of the Profitable Servant [2.2], as referenced in the title. They are different parables but correlated, as I will explain.
First, I’ll make the usual disclaimer; to wit: My use of the parables of Jesus for this purpose is no different than my use of the fables of Aesop or the allegories of Socrates. Great stories are great stories, because they provide a common frame of reference for abstract concepts. They are a story-teller’s gift to us, allowing us to visualize something, to get our arms around it, and to embrace it. Our failure to understand something is a type of mean misery, and these teachers give us the gift of stories as tools, so that we can craft reconciliations and harmonize our minds with regard to the subject.
Let’s start with The Parable of the Talents (edited for this purpose):
Jesus said, “A master was leaving for a journey. He called his servants and gave them talents (money), saying, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’
“To one he gave five talents. To another, two talents. To a third, one talent. Each according to his ability.
“Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, earning another five talents. Likewise, the one who received two talents earned another two talents, also doubling the money. The man who received one talent dug a hole in the ground and buried the money.
“Upon the master returning, the one with five talents said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents and I made five more.’ The master replied, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in this very small matter, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy. Take charge of ten cities.’
“Then the one who received two talents came forward, ‘Master, you gave me two talents and I made two more.’ The master replied, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Take charge of five cities.’
“Then the one who had received the one talent came forward, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person. I was afraid of you, so, out of fear, I went off and buried the talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply: ‘By your own words, you are condemned. You wicked, lazy servant! You knew I was a demanding person. Why did you not put my money in a bank at least to collect interest?’
“And to those standing by, the master said, ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the servant with ten.‘ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten gold coins.’ The master replied, ‘For I tell you to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich. But, from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.’”
Such great stuff. [3] The first two servants were given different amounts of principal in accordance with their respective ability, but both prudently and bravely doubled their master’s money. The third servant was a fool and a coward. Thusly, the servant was disregarded and punished. This lesson is not coddling, fun or nice. It is a hard lesson. It is a hard rule. And the rule has a hard consequence.
Let’s do another parable, The Profitable Servant:
Jesus said, “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing, ‘Go and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? No. So should it be with you.
“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done only what we were obliged to do.’”
This is another rough lesson. The duty to do more than obliged or expected. The duty to exceed in excellence, or at least to implement those immortal blessed magic words, “I tried my best.” It hurts—by definition it hurts—and we know by experience that the weakest muscle gets the most sore. It’s a hard rule of life. But Nature’s God has her own purpose. [4]
So, we behold these beautifully brutal teachings that are wise generally and beyond direct purposes. Indeed, both of these parable teachings demonstrate judgment by wisdom (prudence), and the duty to a profit, with a positive yield.
In the first parable, Jesus commands the duty of prudence and brave production and profit, such as the adage, “To whom much is given, much is expected,” famously said by President John F. Kennedy. [5] In the second parable, Jesus taught to exceed the call of duty, again to a profitable result. [6]
We are careful to take notice that, in the first parable, the third servant simply broke even. That is, the servant preserved the asset and did not waste it, per se. But, in seeing only this fact, we fail to perceive the point. The fatal error of the servant was that the master had already accounted for less ability by allocating only one talent to the servant; that is, the risk was built in. The servant had a duty to leverage that talent, albeit in a smaller way, or the talent is effectively wasted by relative opportunity cost. Yes, this is a brutal Patton-like Jesusian, “You be a profitable servant with it at your level, or let me be a profitable servant with it at my level, or just give it to me and get out of my way.” [7, *10]
Both parables share the command to production with a profit. Not a break-even. A profit. Making a profit hurts; it’s a hard rule and takes wisdom, discipline, and work.
Anyone can take away a profit, but to create a profit, well, that is something very different.
In this, we remember the 1884 duty-focused command of postage-stamp U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. [8]:
It is now the moment…to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.
Holmes’ quotation was made more famous by John F. Kennedy, to wit:
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
This is another way of stating the Jesusian rule to be profitable: The duty to create and to add social value, not to destroy or to deplete social value. [*8]
All in, every person who does not pull his or her own weight in society, however measured, burdens society. A hard rule. A brutal truth, but it is simply formulaic. Prisons prove only the final degree of the rule’s application.
And let us not inductively falsely hyperbolize that the rule means to fail in charity or moral goodness. It does not. Anyone who is not a hypocrite is free to give all their personal wealth to any cause through their own martyred self-destruction. But forcing or otherwise enslaving another person to be charitable tends out of its lane in a free country. America is not church.
The issue here is one of placement and degree by application of wise judgment with regard to the source of social funding by legal compulsion through taxation. [9] Behold it, the power to tax is the power to enslave.
Profit grounds prosperity. This truth is not coddling, fun or nice. It is a hard truth, and coddled inexperience tends to fail to understand it. It is a hard rule. And failure to heed it has a hard consequence, sooner or later, one way or the other.
The parables of Jesus are merciful, gracious, and harsh, all at the same time, depending upon context. They reward and they punish, as a matter of practical prudence. People love to coddle Jesus with the adage of “turning the other cheek” [2.3], but it’s conceptually conflated and misplaced. Here’s what he said:
“You have heard that it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. To one who strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”
This teaching was about superseding the traditional teaching about vengeance; that is, more properly placed: the virtue of temperance. It is a teaching about revenge and discipline, if not love. [*6] Not succumbing to a mean state of retribution for the sake of retribution. Teaching about the vice of vengeance for the past is not a teaching about the virtue of prudence for the future.
Vengeance looks to the past that we do not control. Prudence looks to the future that we do control. And we are charged to know the difference. [10]
The parables set forth above teach about how to go forward; that is, making profit in the future. What is expected, being prudence (wisdom) and courage (fortitude). The distinction of the same act with divergent causation (same act as virtue or vice, depending), is expounded upon in Morality Time Travel. [11]
Notice that the master in the parables did not turn the other cheek, “Oh well, you were foolish and imprudent with my money; it’s okay, here’s more money.” Different rules for different contexts and applications.
Jesus condemns the servant who should know better and then deprives the servant of the potential to perpetuate foolishness and cowardice in the future.
So how does a pile of manure fit the teaching? Let’s ask Master P.T. Barnum: [12]
3. Avoid Debt. Barnum said, “Do not ‘work for a dead horse.‘
“This is not related to those who buy on credit in order to turn the purchase to a profit. The old Quaker said to his farmer son, ‘John, never get trusted [as a borrower]; but if thee gets trusted [borrows] for anything, let it be for “manure,” because that will help thee pay it back again.‘ John Randolph, the eccentric Virginian, once exclaimed in Congress, ‘Mr. Speaker, I have discovered the philosopher’s stone: pay as you go.‘ This is nearer to the philosopher’s stone than any alchemist has ever yet arrived.”
To borrow money for a profit purpose is intended to create more revenue than the cost (interest) of the money; that is, to incur credit to make a profit. That is a generally wise use of debt. It is or should be common sense.
Manure is the natural source of a farmer’s nutrients for the land used to grow crops. Buying manure is calculated to a profit, by nurturing seeds. Manure has a cost, but it is calculated to produce more than it costs; that is, it is a profitable resource. The term “profit” necessarily contemplates that there is a cost. That is, the cost of one pile of manure produces ten piles of food. The manure earns its keep, and it benefits the land rather than burdening it. Buying manure to make a profit is a wise use of money. And, with the profit, the farmer buys more land, with more manure, for more crops, to buy more land, to feed more people. This is overflowing prosperity, reaping what is sowed.
Life is nothing but time. Time is money. If you take my money, you take my time. If you take my time, you take my life. The power to tax is the power to kill. Death by pennies. It just takes time. [13]
Therefore, the three phrases are aligned: Life and sustenance through profit. Profit is the life of business, and the business of America is business.
Producing more than consumed or spent; that is, being profitable. [14]
Debt is to pay for a “dead horse,” says Master Barnum, because you’re paying for a resource that no longer produces profit; that is, paying for today’s producing horse is one thing, but paying for yesterday’s dead horse is, well, something else.
Or, to be more clear, $34,000,000,000,000 dead horses, more or less, being the National Debt of the United States. [15] And the clock keeps ticking, and ticking, and ticking. And with each second, adding interest, another penny, and another moment of our lifetime required to pay for it. It’s a scary sound. [16]
In the beginning—250 years ago—establishing national credit was a good thing. That was then, this is now. 250 years later, $34T, well, not so much.
Everyone wants to be a “good” person. But what is wise policy for America is that policy that furthers the life and sustenance of America with the prosperity of the American people. America is neither a church nor a charity. [17, 18, 19]
A poor man is not in the position to be charitable, except only for the fool or the martyr. [20] And nation-states are not in the business of foolishness or self-destructive martyrdom that contradicts their existential principles of association.
Expenses that are consumed without being reasonably calculated to nurture or to seed production to a profit cause a depletion of wealth, and the destruction of national health. The martyred gift of the widow’s last coin is great for the church and the after-life. [2.4] But for the life and sustenance of a country, not so much.
The best way to be charitable is to be profitable first.
The martyrdom of charity without surplus may be “perfect” [2.5], if we were in church, but America is not a church. It’s a hard rule by Nature’s God. [21] Perhaps god (or the gods) forgive, but Mother Nature, not so much. For her, it’s action with the consequences that logically follow, and survival by self-proven fitness. No nation-state survives that is not healthy and fit to do so. [22, 23]
Now, such as it is, some people love rhetorically emotionally to cite to the Statue of Liberty’s “give me your tired, your poor, …” as if America is a charity. It is not. A charity serves by a depletion and voluntary donation. 1886 is not 2024.
In 1886, 150 years ago—the year of the Statue of Liberty dedication—there was neither welfare nor Medicare. And there were no food stamps sourced to the taxation and debt interest that takes our life and enslaves us, penny by penny, minute by minute, by its inherent formulaic nature.
Moreover, in 1886, there was no North Dakota, no South Dakota, no Montana, no Washington, no Idaho, no Wyoming, no Utah, no Oklahoma, no New Mexico, no Alaska, no Hawaii, and no Arizona.
America was a different country in 1886, with a different policy to achieve the objective, being the prosperity of the people already bound to the articles of association (the U.S. Constitution).
It is rhetorical folly and foolishness to remove time and context from the assessment of what produces prosperity and under what conditions. New wineskins for new wine, lest the vessel of America explode. [2.6] New policies must be matched to new contexts.
In 1886, the country was building itself through human beings willing to take risks in new land with smarts and sweat of the brow. The work was there because the country was building itself.
In 1886, self-actualization and self-reliance were presumed and presupposed by the systemic framework. Now, not so much.
He also said to the crowds, “When you see clouds rising in the West you say then that it is going to rain—and it does. And, when you notice that the wind is blowing from the South you say that it is going to be hot—and it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the signs of the earth and the sky but you not know how to interpret the present crisis of things.” [2.7]
$34T. [*15] And the clock keeps ticking, and ticking, and ticking. It’s a scary sound. [*16] Indeed, 250 years of national debt will be paid, sooner or later, one way or another. The bondsman cometh, sooner or later, one way or another. It’s a hard situation. We created it, and we have to fix it. That’s growing up as a country. The sage does what needs to be done. [*18] It is neither easy nor fun. [24]
For America to sustain, good people need to make wise but terribly hard decisions, to hard effects. Not everyone can do what is necessary. It hurts too much. But, the issue is not what is desired. The issue is what is required.
The sage does what must be done, only because it must be done. [*18]
For the United States of America to be a charitable country, and to remain wise in doing so, it must first be profitable. But, it’s not, as such. And, it’s our own fault.
Middle Class Americans are exhausted, waking up to pay for $34,000,000,000,000 dead horses, before their first cup of coffee and today’s costs. The rich may complain, but they are satiated. The poor may complain, but they are not paying. But, for the Middle Class, well, it’s getting pile-driven. [25]
The manure smells great when it is being used profitably. That’s the sweet smell of success. But the smell is the same, like it or not. Either way, and no less than a sower’s reaper, the bondsman cometh, sooner or later, one way or the other.
[I]f God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’
[26, 27] The bondsman cometh, sooner or later, one way or another.
It’s a hard rule, and not everyone can do it. It hurts too much. But wisdom is vindicated not by her good intentions, but rather by her profitable works. [2.8, 27]
Experience teaches that the pain comes, either way, sooner or later, one way or the other. When the pleasure is first, the pain follows, and the conclusion tends not to end well. [29, 30]
America. If we can keep it. [31]
[1] Jesus and the (Other) Greatest Commandment [#GRZ_16]
[2] The ONE LinkedIn Reference Set [#GRZ_183]: 2.1 ONE: 2368 [L19:11] (“Profitable Servant; Talents”); 2.2 ONE: 1734 [L17:7] (“Exceed Expectation, Unprofitable Servant”); 2.3 ONE: 525 [T5:38] (“Vengeance; Cheek”); 2.4 ONE: 2178 [R12:41, L21:1] (“Poor Widow’s Gift”); 2.5 ONE: 543 [L6:36] (“Perfect”); 2.6 ONE: 799 [T9:17, R2:22, L5:37] (“New Wineskins”); 2.7 ONE: 988 [L12:54] (“Reading Signs”); 2.8 ONE: 1022 [T11:19] (“Wisdom Vindicated by Works”)
[3] Shakespeare, English Language, and Other Such Items [#GRZ_62]
[4] The Declaration of Independence – Abridgment Series [#GRZ_31]
[5] Theodore Roosevelt-The Strenuous Life – Abridgment Series [#GRZ_19]
[7] The Warrior Mindset – Stand for America® [#GRZ_80]
[8] Oliver Wendell Holmes and His Imbeciles – Stand for America® [#GRZ_71]; Memorial Day address in Keene, New Hampshire, on May 30, 1884.
[9] On Empathy: To Give Empathy Is a Blessing; To Need Empathy Is a Curse [#GRZ_106]
[10] The Priest-Patton Scale; Or, Context-Based Human Resourcing [#GRZ_162]
[12] Rules of Money-Getting, by P.T. Barnum [#GRZ_20]
[15] https://www.usdebtclock.org/
[16] The Scariest Sound in the World
[17] The Orderly Administration Of A Diverse People. America Is Not A Church. [#GRZ_170]
[18] A Fool and His Country are Soon Parted; Or, The Late American Lifeboat Debate [#GRZ_171]
[22] The Insecure Human Being – The Business of Aesop™ No. 51 – A Fox Without a Tail [#GRZ_36]
[23] The Reason Why Political and Economic Systems Fail; The Executive Summary [#GRZ_145]
[24] The Great Masquerade – Stand for America® [#GRZ_11]
[25] A More Perfect Middle Class. Or, Diamonds are Forever – Stand for America® [#GRZ_89]
[26] Good v. Evil; Or, Thoughtlessness by Simplistic Vilification [#GRZ_126]
“Potestatem tributum est potestas servitutis.” (“The power to tax is the power to enslave.”) ~grz
© 2024 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
The statements or opinions made in this article are solely the author’s own and not representative of any institution regarding which the author is affiliated.
Stand for America® is a series of publications written by Gregg Zegarelli intersecting philosophy and traditional American values published by Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group. Printed or reprinted with permission.
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