Parable of the Talents
(pic from here)
Will you all still love me if I take a brief vacation from Asian American issues? I’m taking a break online (although I’m still doing Miss Asian Oregon and the book project in real life). I need time to educate myself, and I’m excited about our Justice course which begins…drum roll…in less than 24 hours! I was in Barnes and Noble today with Gun Gun, and I learned that Prof. Sandel also has a book called Justice. Also, for you peeps in Seattle, Sandel is speaking TODAY (Friday) at the Harvard Club. It’s sold out, but you can get in front and beg…that’s what I’d do if I were in our great sister city from the North! (I’m just kidding. If they’re sold out, they’re sold out. You can always see him online.)
Continuing our short discussion on Talent, this whole idea of “work ethic” has come up many times throughout my life in many settings. I wonder if it’s the same for all of you. The very first time I became aware of he concept of talent usage as a moral virtue was in Sunday School, when I heard the following story (man, I wish I had bought the domain for bible.org. We’d be having so much fun…):
14 For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work270 and gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 19 After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. 29 For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:14-30)
I never understood this story when I first heard it. As a child, I thought it was cute how the poor slave buried his talent in the ground. I thought to myself, “Why is the master so angry? He had a talent, and now he still has a talent. So why is he beating the shit out of this poor slave?”
29 years later, I now understand exactly why the Boss was so mad. While the other slaves were investing, building companies, providing jobs for the people of old Israel, and learning Rich Dad, Poor Dad 2,000 years before Kiyosaki wrote it, this third slave was sitting on his straw couch, watching the grass grow while his talent lay buried in the ground. I don’t know what the rate of inflation was back then, but the Boss no doubt lost out on a good opportunity cost. If he had given that extra talent to either of the other two, he would have doubled it. But instead, he wasted it on Slave #3.
I googled and found Steve Pavlina’s take on the Parable of the Talents, and he asks an interesting question: “What would have happened if one of the servants who invested the money realized a loss instead of a gain?” He thinks that the Boss would’ve still praised the slave, since the Bossman criticized him for being “wicked” and “lazy.” Knowing my own feelings in my personal case, I agree with Pavlina. Failure can be commendable because at least a person can say he tried. We love that in this culture–”Remember the Alamo!” But when a person doesn’t even try, doesn’t even throw his hat into the ring to take a risk, I think that’s wrong.
You all know that I’m not a big fan of what the Fundies have done to this culture, but even though their book says some pretty outlandish things along with the crazy things they themselves do, there are also great pieces of wisdom in their book as well. When you succeed with your talent, you can live with happiness. Failure can also be a beautiful thing if it propels a person forward. The first step in getting better at anything, I think, is to show up for the competition.
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Where talent application is concerned, I’ve always thought that there was a big difference between “restlessness” and “laziness,” although they are very often confused.
A lazy person is just wasting both talent and time. They are indifferent to thier own development and to their contribution to society, and thus, are in a state of talent atrophe. In other words, they “bury” their talent.
Conversely, a restless person is often bored by things that do not interest them, but can be very animated by things that do. The restless person is not lazy, in fact, they may be working harder than the average person. However, they are searching for something that will hold their interest and inspire their passion. Somethimes they find it… sometimes they don’t.
The big difference is in motivation, one guy leaves a job after 6 months because he wants go sit on his mom’s house and play video games all day. The other guy quits the same job after 6 months because he wants to work at another job that he has become passionate about.
I agree, King.
It’s very hard to tell the difference sometimes. I’ve noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs are “restless;” they get involved with a company, build it up, sell it, and then move on to the next company.
It’s also hard because, as Alpha mentioned in the other post, there are also dreamers. John Lennon wrote about “watching the wheels go round and round,” but Lennon himself was clearly a very busy man with his songwriting.
I think you’re right–it’s indifference to both themselves and society. The restless guy is always trying to get better.
“he asks an interesting question: ‘What would have happened if one of the servants who invested the money realized a loss instead of a gain?’”
Loss is not a bad thing. I have always found it is better to do something and fail than to not do anything at all. Even if you are failing, there is often time to cure, if you apply yourself.
If you play and lose, you’ve at least played the game. Whatever you learned from playing may prepare you for the next time around.
That fear the third servant had is in all of us, but some of us gain the confidence to not let it keep us from going out and trying to turn two talents into four, or five talents into ten.
Fast foward to today. We are in an economic recession. Sometime you need to go out on a limb and make business happen. Staying at home and waiting for the next thing to come along may be one way of biding your time. Or, one could be a part of that wave, generating jobs, revitalizing the economy, even if it is only in a small way.
If you realize a loss instead of a gain, accept that you will not always be down. Maybe the servant with the five and two talents had an advantage of leverage. Maybe with only one talent, the third servant did not feel he had anything to leverage and better to stand still than lose all. But really, how hard is it to make a bit of money?
Having different amounts of capital is like working with different landscapes. The battle on 5, 2 and 1 would be different, but if you know your terrain, you can conquor the battle field.
Let’s say you need $100 as a down payment to buy a building which would collect rents to cover the mortgage and then some. A, B and C have $500, $200 and $100 respectively. A might be able to go out and buy four properties with $100 reserve for lack of rent, improvements and repair costs. B might be able to go out and buy one property with $100 in his pocket to deal with lack of rent, improvements and costs. C can only buy one property, but will have no money as a back up. C could lose the property and the downpayment if he defaults on the loan, where as A and B have some reserve to cover unexpected expenses. Markets will go up and down and I and B might be able to weather those changes and realize hevty returns. C cannot behave like A & B. C will have to get in when the market is low and hope for a recovery. C might want to think of using the $100 to invest in something else (ie., if people need a quick cheap lunch and like kosher dogs, buy a hot dog cart, some kosher dogs & buns; then sell kosher dogs) that would give a return. Hence to each servant, talents equal to his capacity. And who knows, maybe C would have made 11 talents if he sold hot dogs rather than bury the talent.
AG:
“If you play and lose, you’ve at least played the game. Whatever you learned from playing may prepare you for the next time around.”
Exactly. I would say that a guy who tries to turn one talent into two and ends up losing it is better off than the guy who just keeps it. Why? Because the first guy now has an education that the couch potato doesn’t. Certain actions, like starting a business, can only be learned by doing.
The Buddhist in me also says that by investing that talent, you’ve also released your talent and are teaching yourself to let go, to stop grasping. Yoga practitioners call it aparigraha. By learning to let go of that talent, that thing, your past, you learn how to progress.
I also like your example of A, B, and C. It’s true–you need to invest according to what you can afford. But anyone can make at least something. The third slave could’ve just lived off that talent while working for someone else.
I was just reading an article in the NY Times about Cael Sanderson, the new wrestling coach at Penn State. He’s supposedly the best NCAA wrestler ever, having won four championships with no losses. I googled him, and found his blog, which is interesting and relevant:
http://www.caelsanderson.com/blog/courage-to-develop-our-talents/
“Courage comes from God. Fear and doubt do not.
A favorite quote of mine is “What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
The challenge in this life is to take what we have been given and do the most we can with it. Everyone has challenges. Everyone has blessings.
To reach your potential you have to attack. Attack without the fear of failure. “
Before retelling the same parable of the talents, he says:
“My redshirt year in college while at the Olympic Training Center I saw a quote that really hit me. The quote was from Olympic wrestling champion Jeff Blatnick. The quote read “I learned to win by learning to lose; that is, not being afraid to lose.”
To me that means to reach your greatest potential, you can’t be worried about making mistakes or hindered by a fear of failure. So often we are our own enemy instead of an ally. You should be your own greatest ally in your quest to see what you can become in this life.
As the saying goes….He that isn’t willing to take risks, takes the greatest risk of all. “
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