A Closer Walk

"Luck is the religion of the lazy," Dr. Carmen L Battaglia. Mr. Battaglia is the son of first generation Sicilian immigrants. He attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and has a bachelor's in psychology, a master's in criminology, and doctorates in criminology and sociology. In 1960 he and his wife Nancy established the Van Cleve line of German Shepherd dogs. He is a dog breeder, he shows dogs, and is a judge at dog shows. The quote above appeared in The Canine Chronicle and is specifically referring to a decline in entrants at various dog shows. The “lazy” breeders as he called them didn't want to put forth the effort to bring their dogs to the shows. Hence the decline. Applied to a broader population, “the lazy” doesn't necessarily refer to those who don't want to work. Because as we will see below, “the lazy” often have jobs. Work is its own reward. And while people who buy lottery tickets may be hoping for a sudden windfall so they can quit working and live a life of ease and luxury, history and experience show us that most of the lottery winners are broke within five years of their “good luck.” And in some cases, even worse off than they were before.
“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it,” Bill Gates, founder and former chairman of Microsoft Corporation. This quote is often attributed to Mr. Gates, and although he did use it, history does not support him as the originator. The earliest known mention of this quote appeared in the December 1920 edition of “Popular Science Monthly” magazine. And it was stated by Frank B. Gilbreath Sr. We remember Mr. Gilbreath from the book “Cheaper by the Dozen,” which was written by two of his children. The book also spawned a motion picture and its sequel. Mr. Gilbreath was what we might call an “efficiency expert.” He studied jobs, broke them down into their various parts, and suggested to management a more efficient way of doing them. (Sourced from the website Quote Investigator.) This quote frames the “lazy” person in an entirely different light. Because of their penchant to eliminate any unnecessary effort, they by nature quickly become more efficient with their methods for production and thereby produce more output. This increases productivity for their company. If a company can produce more with no additional cost, they have the ability to increase their profit margin which could result in higher wages for their workers, plus provide additional dividends and stock price increases for their shareholders. A win, win, win situation.
In 1947 Clarence Bleicher, president of the DeSoto division of Chrysler Corporation, was testifying before a U.S. Senate committee. Mr. Bleicher stated, “... So if you have got a job that is tough—I have taught my foremen this for some months now—if you get a tough job, one that is hard, and you haven't got a way to make it easy, put a lazy man on it, and after ten days he will have an easy way to do it, and you perfect that way and you will have it in pretty good shape.” (Also sourced from Quote Investigator in the same article used above.) Mr. Bleicher's experience at Chrysler Corporation testifies to the value of “lazy people” in the work force. Huh! Who'd a thunk it?
As children of God we are taught hard work, a strong work ethic, and so on. We are given the example of the ant in Proverbs. “Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer, And gathers her provision in the harvest,” Proverbs 6:6-8 NASB. The ant provides for herself even though there is no one in charge to tell her what to do and when to do it. Lesson there for us?
“Luck is the religion of the lazy.” “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. A lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” These two quotes seem to be in opposition to each other. But they both contain truth and wisdom for anyone who is interested in increasing their own wisdom. We don't want to be thought of as lazy. But Mr. Gilbreath discovered in his work that the hardest working people who put out quality work are able to do that work at a high rate of speed, thereby masking their inefficiency. In other words, he discovered that the hard workers used unnecessary movements, motions, and steps which the so-called “lazy man” would recognize and then eliminate. They also became more tired than the lazy man due to all of these unnecessary movements and effort. Recognizing the Biblical truths that every person on earth is created in the image of God (Genesis 1), and that every person on earth has works that were ordained for us (Ephesians 2) we now know that our God has created “lazy people” to show us the way toward higher efficiency and increased productivity. Again, huh! Who'd a thunk it.
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Labor Day is this coming Monday. I thought this column particularly relevant for such a holiday.