Having My Way
5. Shoemaker, Stick to Your Last
SHOEMAKER, STICK TO YOUR LAST
The structuring of a good society is as much your “last” as any other concern.
Before exploring the propriety of this ancient adage, let us enjoy the comedy of its reputed origin. Galileo tells the story:
Apelles was court painter to Alexander the Great. He is reported on one occasion to have stationed himself behind one of his paintings in order to listen to the remarks of the spectators. When a passing shoemaker was heard criticizing the representation of a boot, Apelles stepped out to thank the workman and ask for correction. But the emboldened cobbler then began to extend his adverse remarks to other parts of the picture, and Apelles stopped him with the now proverbial admonition: “Let the shoemaker stick to his last.”1
What this admonition amounts to is this: Mind your own business! At first blush, this has all the earmarks of unqualified good counsel. Take my own case: I know substantially nothing about boots, paintings, musical composition, or countless other matters. Far be it from me to tell a cobbler or an Apelles or a Bach what to do. Clearly, there are thousands of ventures, befitting the uniqueness of others, that are beyond my ken and are no business of mine. Apelles was right in admonishing the shoemaker to stick to his last and he would be equally right were he to tell you and me to mind our own business.
But what is our own business? It is conceivable that simple ignorance keeps me unaware of something that properly is my business. My business is to fulfill my responsibilities, and laziness may cause me to shirk my rightful obligations. In short, there is more to minding one’s own business than first meets the eye, more than just keeping our noses out of other people’s business.
There is a matter of transcendent importance that I believe is everybody’s business: the structuring of a good society! Were we to concentrate on this aspect of our own business as much as we are inclined to meddle in what is surely none of our business, a good society would be a viable prospect. Why all of this emphasis on the good society? It is the environmental prerequisite to individual fulfillment. And that is your business—and mine!
The need for a good society is and always has been low on the list of popular human cravings and aspirations. Yet, there is no other subject since the dawn of history about which more has been written. Here is a matter that is everybody’s business, but relatively few recognize their responsibility. The subject is seemingly so difficult that most people pigeonhole it as one of those specialized activities that is none of one’s business—something like the shoemaker telling Apelles how to paint a picture.
Wherein lies the cause of this enigma? Why all of this perplexity? When people in general are unaware of their personal stake in the good society and have no opinions of their own, when they think this is a matter requiring only the attention of specialists, they cannot tell a wise counselor from a charlatan; they are the easy victims of utopian dreamers, seekers after power, organizational gadgetry designers.
Let me venture a guess: the thoughts and ideas that have been written and spoken on the sane and sound side of this subject are as abundant as the plethora of fallacious notions. The former, however, are but little heeded; whereas, millions of people support and applaud the latter. How is this one-sidedness to be explained? People who insist that it is none of their business and who remain intellectually sterile so far as the good society is concerned, are attracted to political gimmicks, to shortcuts, to promises of rewards that put no demands upon them—none whatsoever! All this and heaven too, and no need to attend to personal virtues!
Why do so many people get the false notion that the structuring of a good society is over their heads? It is simply because the schemes to which they are attracted—promises of the guaranteed life—are so varied, complex, and nonsensical that no one can understand them, not even the authors! It is not because people are lacking in a capability to understand but, rather, that their eyes are cast upon that which cannot be comprehended. They are not blind; they are simply staring at darkness!
Where then is the light? The light is within the undiscovered self! And the only problem is to find it. If this procedure is simple, then the structuring of the good society is simple; for society, we must remember, is but a name we give to the aggregate of all the You’s and I’s. You and I give society whatever character it has, and no society can be better than are the individuals who compose it. You cannot make me good, or even better than I am. Nor can all the social planners and schemers in the world. I alone have any control over my goodness or improvement, and you alone over yours. To become aware of this and then to strive for self-improvement is to mind one’s own business—including one’s obligation to promote the good society.
How simple is it to become the good citizen? As simple as to understand and to adhere to the most widely pronounced and the oldest ethical proposition of distinctly universal character: the Golden Rule.
There is a companion guideline to good citizenship, as simple to follow and as infallible as the Golden Rule: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Another way to phrase this guideline is: put truth and righteousness first and foremost, that is, make righteous action one’s prime objective, forgetting the things of this world. What happens? The things of this world flow miraculously as a consequence. Caution: Never practice righteousness because of these things which flow as dividends; that puts things first. The result? Neither goodness nor things! Righteousness for the sake of righteousness—period!
From my seat in the bleachers, I judge that these simple guidelines to the improved self and the good society have been seldom used of late. Modern man seems to think that these were only for the poor souls of the ancient world and not for the advanced and the wise such as we! Wiseacres looking down upon the wise—or, so it seems to me.
However, an encouraging change is afoot, and here is one example of it:
One year ago I went to work for _________ Mutual Life Company. They told me at the time that I would not be a success in the business as I refused to use the selling gimmicks common to the industry. I felt that life insurance in its proper place did have a purpose and that there was room for at least one underwriter that would put the interests of the consumer ahead of his personal gain, the end result being that if I was doing a good job, I would somehow make a living also. The results were much better than expected—I not only made my living, I was the number one producer of life-disability & health insurance in the company for 1972. So I am still of the opinion that honesty pays!
The honesty referred to is precisely the same manner of conduct commended in the ancient guidelines. Heads of auto agencies, brokers, and others are reporting this same approach to me, with results no less astounding than the above. A friend in Tokyo has just sent me a book, The Matsushita Phenomenon, revealing that the outstanding industrial success in Japan is on this identical ethical wave length.2 If numerous instances of this kind come to my attention, I assume there are many that do not; at least, I prefer to believe that an ethical and moral upswing is on its way.
Observe that this movement, now in its initial stage, is strictly voluntary, the only way that man can act in a free market society. And the market is automatically free when government is limited to keeping the peace, that is, to restraining destructive actions. Contrast this with the coercive society manifested by people in all walks of life saying, in effect, “I paid for it; I might as well get my share.” Implicit in this latter way of life is dictocratic control of creative activities: “Do as I say, or else!”
When any formula for the good society is not simple, forget it. When any formula cannot be understood by the so-called common man, forget it. Any formula that is not simple is not understood by anyone, even the author.
Keep always in mind the sage counsel of the eminent German psychiatrist, Dr. Fritz Kunkel: “Immense hidden powers lurk in the unconscious of the most common man—indeed, of all people without exception.”
With Apelles, we can say “Shoemaker, stick to your last.” But the structuring of the good society is as much your “last” as any other concern of yours, regardless of who you are. And in order to mind one’s own business this matter must be tied with the improvement of self for first place among our priorities.
