Mom used to tell the story of a poor farmer extolling the virtues of socialism to his neighbour who was just as poor. The setting was the depression years of the 1930’s.

“If everyone who has more than they need would share with those who don’t have enough, what a wonderful place this world would be!”

“Sooo, does that mean that if you had two cows you would give me one?”

“Of course.”

“If you had two horses, you would give me one?”

“Certainly.”

“And if you had two pigs, you would give me one?”

“Now just a minute! That’s going too far. You know I have two pigs!”

It’s probably just a fable, but it illustrates Mom’s take on the social gospel/socialist philosophy of sharing the wealth. She would usually add:

“What these people really believe is ‘What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine too,’”

In other words, she saw their smooth talk of economic fairness and equality as nothing but a fine-looking cover for envy and greed.

Perhaps you assume that Mom grew up in a prosperous home where nothing was lacking. The reality is that she grew up in a large family on a hard-scrabble farm in southwestern Saskatchewan. Nowadays we would describe their living conditions as extreme poverty. To top it off, her father was nearly blind, and finally completely blind. Nevertheless, every one of the 14 children born to her parents survived to adulthood, many of them into their 90’s.

The adage that says “A man shows what he is, by what he does, with what he has” is a more sure road to success than envy and greed.