Being lost in work can lead to being lost altogether.
When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, his timeless story of greed, redemption and generosity, he was in a bit of a slump and in need of more income to raise his family that included 10 children.
We know the tale begins on a “cold, bleak, biting” Christmas Eve in England. The reclusive and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge is getting ready for bed when the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, visits him.
Marley explains why he is condemned to walk the earth:
“It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world-oh, woe is me!-and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness.”
Scrooge, not wanting to believe the ghost or face the same possibility for himself, tries to rationalize:
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
What a great reminder that long hours, revenues and profits must be counter-balanced with kindness, compassion and charity.
Happy holidays and best wishes for a successful 2013.
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