Unrewarding thoughts on compensation

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Do people truly want jobs? I think that people want money, and, since jobs sometimes pay money… Now I lost my train of thought.

I don’t know what money is, but I’ll try to guess. It seems that money is a game, like the critics’ star system: out of a total of four, an awful movie receives just half a star… unless the rules permit a zero rating.

If a worker is not paid for doing a job, does it mean that this job was done poorly? What if one person is paid more money than another? I just heard a fellow say that his company’s chief executive officer collects 300 times more pay than a regular employee. Does this officer perform that much more work than the average laborer?

How can we measure anyone’s economic worth? How can we make sure that our measurement is correct? Supposing that it is incorrect, would we be wrong to attempt to amend our measurement?

And why are there certain things that money cannot buy? Why do some say that the best things in life are free?

I do not accept any of the known religions (including my own), but I enjoy considering their ideas nonetheless. All this talk about money triggered memories of various passages from the King James Bible—here’s one of them:

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said unto him, “Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.”

And he said, “All these have I kept from my youth up.”

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.”

And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”

This exchange occurs in three of the canonical gospels—the above is from chapter 18 of Luke; it’s also in Matthew 19 and Mark 10.

Now I want to talk about something different, dear diary; I hope you don’t mind.

It’s on the borderline of being too cold for a bike ride this morning, so I’ll stay inside and read.

*

I guess this entry is doomed to be religion-mad, because the text I most felt like reading was the “King Follett Sermon”—an address delivered by Joseph Smith on 7 April 1844, less than three months before he was assassinated:

(Pardon the acerbic tone and overacting—now that I’ve re-listened to my attempt, I wish I had spoken more calmly.) The text is here; and below are links to the sections of the recording:

1. The Being and Kind of Being God Is; The Immortality of the Intelligence of Man
2. The Character of God
3. What Kind of Being is God?
4. The Privilege of Religious Freedom
5. God an Exalted Man
6. Power of the Father and the Son
7. The Righteous to Dwell in Everlasting Burnings
8. Meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures
9. A Council of the Gods
10. Meaning of the Word Create
11. The Immortal Spirit
12. The Power to Advance in Knowledge
13. The Relation of Man to God
14. Our Greatest Responsibility
15. A Salvation for Men
16. The Unpardonable Sin
17. The Forgiveness of Sins
18. “In My Father's House”
19. Righteous Mourners Rejoice
20. Baptism
21. A Call to Repentance