The recent controversy surrounding Romney’s misrepresentation of Obama’s ‘did not build THAT’ quote, has reminded me of a quote from the bible. As the book of Deuteronomy says:
"We drink from wells we did not dig; we are warmed by fires we did not kindle." (Deut. 6.11)
This quotation from the Bible has been running through my head all day long. It’s an interesting quote, and can be interpreted a couple of different ways.
We all benefit from those who came before us – Is probably the easiest way to take its meaning. We drink the water from wells that others dug before we were born, or ‘arrived on the scene’. We benefit from their labors. This is the nature of a civilized society. We benefit from the labor incurred by or undertaken by others. With luck, our accomplishments will outlive us, and benefit our offspring and the rest of our society.
That’s a powerful thought to keep in mind. Especially in the days of “I got mine, you get yours…” type of political discourse. Also in light of the Romney campaigns insistence that real businesses are built WITHOUT any assistance by any one else.
We work hard for our money. We work hard for our families. Sometimes, it seems like others benefit from our labors without ‘putting in the same hard work.’ I see this a lot in political arguments about “MY TAX DOLLARS” going to help someone - usually someone the writer doesn’t particularly care for. They disagree with the recipient’s political persuasion, or their religious beliefs, or their moral ethics, or the color of their skin… whatever. “Why should THEY get help, when I work so damn hard for what I get? NOBODY HELPED ME!!!”
Ah yes - The myth of the self made man. The treasured notion that we are all rugged individualists who succeed in pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. That the person ‘on top’ got there with absolutely no help from anyone – all by themselves, all on their own – AND YOU SHOULD TOO.
It’s a lie of course.
“We drink from wells we did not dig.”
Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Great and small.
In the real world, someone dug that well. Someone invested hard labor and time to carve it out of rock, to bring forth water that they could drink from. They deserve to be the first to drink from it. And typically, if you’re the one digging the well, you’re going to be the first to test the water. That’s the nature of well digging.
But while they were busy digging, someone else was planting the crops. Someone else was keeping a watch out for wild animals. Someone else was HUNTING the wild animals. Someone else, perhaps, fashioned the tools that the well-diggers used to dig that well. And THEY drank from wells they did not dig.
It’s not hard to see what this message means. We all benefit by working together. We benefit from the labor of people we do not know, in ways we cannot foresee. That is the nature of civilization. That is the BENEFIT of being a civilized society.
My taxes pay for roads I do not drive upon. They pay for schools I do not attend. They build sewers I will never use, and build bridges I may never cross. My taxes pay the salaries of firemen and police I hope to NEVER meet. They pay for wars I wish did not exist.
Which of course, makes me wonder what secrets Romney is hiding in his tax returns. Perhaps he isn't paying his fair share for the wells to be dug?
“We drink from wells we did not dig.”
I know this is true, because I know that someone else’s taxes helped pay for the roads I DO drive on, the bridges I cross, the sewers on my street and the police I pass on the road. My taxes alone would never pay for the benefits of the society I live in.
Of course, I’d like to have a say in how that money is spent. I’d like to see more spent here – less spent there – I’d like it to be spent wisely (At least, what I THINK is wisely) and so I speak up; With my voice, with my pen, with my ballot. IF I can convince enough people to go along with my notions, then the well water is used in a way that I’d like to see it used. If not… I have to go along, or work harder to convince others.
That’s the nature of a civilized democracy. Working together, to get things done.
“We drink from wells we did not dig.”
When I am told to be proud of my nations’ accomplishments, I am. But if I take pride in the communal accomplishments of others, I must also take umbrage with the failings and shortcomings of our nation and culture.
And if you poison the well we all drink from, you should not be allowed to continue using it.
That’s true for people, corporations and government entities.
You can’t just pee in your end of the pool.
I have good friends who are magicians, and slight of hand artists. It’s always a thrill to watch them work their particular brand of magic. It’s especially fun if you actually know how the trick works – if you follow the ‘other’ hand, and you’re not distracted by the hand they are waving about – you can see where the ball goes. You can see where the rabbit came from.
You can see that they fool you with misdirection.
Which is all fun and lots of laughs in a stage show – but in real life, the political magicians are picking your pocket with their misdirection.
They’ll tell you “Hard work alone got me where I am. I made my fortune solely by my own efforts. YOU can do it do too… if you work hard enough… and long enough… and cheap enough… FOR ME.”
“We drink from wells we did not dig.”
It’s a shared effort. Always was, always will be. For thousands of years, wells were always COMMUNITY property. It was only in recent history, that people came to dig their own private wells. Folks who like to say that "America was built by hard working first colonizers" - forget that they did it with the help of the indigenous cultures. Those who came before, cleared the land, dug wells, found streams and offered corn to starving colonists. It's easier to think 'We made this land' without their help. Or without admitting we stole a lot of the already developed resouces from those who came before.
It’s this ability to utilize the resources of those earliest well diggers. Those who first kindled the fire, that allows individual effort to prosper and grow. It's true whether we prefer to acknowledge it or not. I'm one of those who has no problem acknowledging the efforts of those who came before.
“If we see farther, it is because we stand on the shoulders of GIANTS” is another quotation that addresses the same point.
That quote, originally attributed to Bernard of Chartres in 1159 by John of Salisbury is also apropropriate. It speaks to the notion that the ‘well’ need not be a physical attribute. It is a metaphor that suggests that one who develops future intellectual pursuits does so by understanding and building on the research and reason of those notable thinkers and philosophers who came before.
SO my suggestion to those who want to rebut this notion of ‘self made man’ – especially those who espouse this false ideology, is to simply quote the bible to them.
“We drink from wells we did not dig.”
‘nuff said.