The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Americans in Service to Americans

3.30.06 @ 12:01AM

OUR SERVICE SOCIETY
Re: Ben Stein's Better People Than I Am:

Mr. Stein, please do not sell yourself short.

I have heard Walter Williams, the professor of economics from George Mason University and TownHall.com commentator, remark that our economic system is built upon service. I serve my employer by contributing to the successful completion of his business venture and he serves me by taking a portion of the revenue and paying me for the contribution. My grocer serves me by providing fresh, safe foods and I serve him by sharing the wealth provided by my employer so that he can improve his facilities, buy replacement products, and provide for the needs of his family. Similar transactions are repeated billions of times every day and are the basis of successful capitalism. Let us not forget that it is our service to others that is the investment that leads to our being served.

In early Christianity, the Apostle Paul defines the social order in the new church as one of many members each with different talents and skills contributing to total health of the new organization. The comparison used is to our physical bodies of numerous parts, each performing a function for which it was designed, and damaging the function of the organization if that part hurts or becomes corrupted. The parts may be powerful or weak, very visible or modestly covered, seemingly important or weak, but nonetheless each is required in its own way to fulfill the mission of the group.

The system fails in two ways: when we fail to prove the service that is our part to provide or we try to serve in a way that is not part of our design. Both are personal failures and not imperfections in the system.

As for you Mr. Stein, you serve me often in ways that only you can. Your insights serve to pick up my spirits when I do not feel like serving as I should. You remind me of the important things. You entertain with your talents. Your financial commentary is part of the vast amount of info I use to pick my own investments. My service to you is that I am a subscriber to TAS, and I buy products that are advertised so that your employers can compensate (serve) you.

The volunteers that you so rightly lionize in your commentary are neither more or less deserving of our praise than is anyone else that has accepted their particular call to service. Is some service more financially lucrative than others? Of course. Is it more important to the overall effectiveness of what society accomplishes? I do not think so. Without a doubt, the delicate balance tips and society moves incrementally toward chaos when folks accept service, i.e. get paid, without serving others and when we attempt to serve in ways in which it is not our destiny to serve.

Thank you, Ben, for your service.
-- Joe Strader
Glasgow, Kentucky

From all that I've read on this site, your readers regard you as The American Spectator's resident philosopher. How old are you? Are you just now discovering that one can only be first by putting others first. Even the writers of Groundhog Day had learned that lesson.
-- Tom Wolenski

Thanks Ben, good article. Have a story about the egg-laying hens. I live in the country and wanted to raise hens for fresh eggs, so I went to one of the egg farms and bought some of their three-year-old used up hens. Just so you know some of these "old" hens lived many years, but the fun part of this story is when I would get these poor hens home and put them on the ground they acted like it was going to kill them. They had never had anything but wire under them. Always made me feel good to see how happy they were to be able to scratch in the dirt and just be a chicken.
-- Elaine Kyle

Please tell Ben Stein that the wild horses of Montana are not "shot by riflemen in helicopters." He has succumbed to animal rights propaganda, easy to happen in Hollywood.
-- Ann
Ohio

I appreciate Ben Stein's humility and appreciation of the fact that those who should be held in highest honor are those serving others -- quietly, consistently, and without need for, or expectation of, recognition. However, when he says: "...and hope, some day, to learn from them," why not make it today? To Ben, and everyone one of us, I would say: while it may not be too late to serve others, especially in obscure ways or obscure places, it certainly is never too soon.
-- Nick Hauser

Relay to Ben Stein that his latest article on who the truly great are in this country is a classic. I am in awe of the humility he displays in this article!
-- unsigned

WELL-STATED ILLS
Re: Lisa Fabrizio's Life After Two Deaths:

Lisa did it again. She captured our troubles today in a succinct manner, exposed the darkness of our current culture, and elucidated the manipulation and recklessness of today's mainstream media, while supporting the goodness and greatness of our country by its more responsible citizens who believe in morals and values. Each time I see an article written by her in The American Spectator, I read hers first because she has such clarity, thoughtfulness, common sense, dignity and respect for what is important to our country and its future. Thank you for publishing her work. I gain a lot of insight from her writings and recognize so much of myself in her thoughts and beliefs as do other Americans who know what makes this country great and understand what it takes to retain it.
-- Frances Meehan
Santa Barbara, California

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