Hard Work = Wealth, Right? (2024)

There is a common train of thought these days that bothers me: It is that people are wealthy because they work harder than the rest of us, and people are poor because either: 1) they don’t work as hard as their wealthy neighbor, 2) they are not as smart, or 3) they are not “good” people and deserve what they get, or else God would bless them like he has blessed their wealthy neighbor.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

To be honest, the reason this topic was on my mind is because I am sensing a growing hatred between the classes that I have not felt before. I am disturbed by the growing violence against the homeless, the snide remarks made by those with plenty about those who have not, labeling the whole group as “welfare parasites” for instance, and the growing unrest in the form of protests.

Lower classes are beginning to feel that no one is listening, and that is one reason why riots are breaking out. Some want to disregard the opinion of anyone unless they are backed by clout, money, and privilege. It is as if upper classes don’t want to be bothered by the struggles of the lower classes and instead of listening and respecting them, they seem to want to be “rid” of this segment of society. That type of thinking, my friends, is dangerous. WWII happened as a result of this mindset.

I had an incident today at the post office in Cullman, Alabama (that I may share later), which prompted this post. In a conversation with some locals while standing in line, I heard these phrases concerning a certain group of people: “annihilatethem”, get “rid” of them, they need to be “washed into the sea”, “time to machine gun these __”, and others.

When I suggested their thinking was “mean spirited” and “making generalizations about a whole group of people”, someone said, “They are all evil and deserve to be punished by God.” Really? Have we come to this?

This was not even a private conversation among friends – this was an open conversation among a group of strangers who didn’t even know one another but were in consensus in their “get rid of” thinking. I was the only one in a long line who saw anything wrong with this line of thought.

That is one reason I am speaking out now.

But back to the hard work = wealth issue. Sure, many have started on the bottom and worked their way to the top. My husband, for instance. I give him full credit for being persistent enough to be as successful as he is. But even he will tell you that the further up the ladder of success you go, the less you actually work. And it is not so much how smart you are or how hard you work as it is who you know. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is the hardest working person I know, but I don’t think he fits the norm.

In reality, the true “workers” are on the bottom “working their tails off” so the higher ups can benefit. Thankfully my husband is empathetic and understands how hard they work, and how valuable those dependable, hard-workers are. In fact the company solely depends upon them.

But I would venture to say that not all wealthy people are in this category. Many of them have inherited wealth and have had to do no work to get it; some play the stock market buying, selling, and trading and do not contribute anything to society – much less “work”, some sit behind a desk all day, and some have even gained wealth through dishonest or unethical gain. So being rich does not necessarily mean someone is a good person, or that he/she is a hard working one, or that he/she is even smart.

Of course there are wealthy people who sometimes qualify for all three, but not necessarily.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against wealth or wealthy people, and I understand CEO’s are important. I am proud of my husband’s accomplishments. But let’s be honest, most of them don’t work as hard as they would have us believe. I love to see people doing well, and I have celebrated with my husband through every “promotion” he has achieved. But let’s not blow it out of proportion because they are not the only ones who are important here – they are certainly not the only ones who work.

On the other hand, some of the hardest working people I know “bust their butts” (as someone recently said) every day, but they will never be “rich.” Teachers, for instance. I know because I taught school for 30 years, and my retirement is far from wealthy. And no one works harder than a farmer or a nurse or a policeman, or a chicken catcher. But will they be able to retire with the rich and famous for all their hard work? I don’t think so. Justbecause someone is not wealthy does not mean he/she is a bad person, or that she/he is lazy, or dumb.

Of course there are working class people who sometimes qualify for all three, but not necessarily.

In an ideal world, the harder we worked the wealthier we would become. If life was fair then hard work would indeed equal wealth. Teachers could retire in luxury. Farmers and Mexican migrant workers and chicken catchers would be the millionaires instead of the stock traders. Sorry to burst the delusion bubble, but it doesn’t work that way. It seems the less work you do, the more you get paid; the more work you do, the less you get paid.

Most of the time you do not accumulate wealth in proportion to the amount of work you do. So let’s stop lauding the wealthy as if theywork any harder than the rest of us. Let’s stop bashing the poor because they “probably deserve” it.

Additionally, not everyone has the same advantages or opportunities. Life is not so easy for some as for others. Time and chance happen to us all. God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. Even the best of plans are not fail-proof. Catastrophic life events occur randomly. Some people are truly needy and poor through no fault of their own. There are a million reasons why we are in the shape we are in – good or bad – and God is the only one who can judge fairly, which is precisely why we are told not to.

We have no idea what someone has gone through unless we have walked in their shoes.

Let me insert a disclaimer here. I do not advocate laziness or living irresponsibly or sponging off the government. I am aware that some – not all – are poor because of this. Once again, in an ideal world we would not have this problem. But as a friend of mine said, “Idealism and reality rarely meet.”

Another friend said, “Let’s face it, some people just are not willing or able to fully prepare and plan for all their needs.” Jesus even said, “The poor you will always have with you..” (Matt. 26:11) Perhaps laziness is why.? But not all poor, are in that class because of laziness or irresponsibility.

So I guess I have said all this to say…

Here’s an idea: instead of judging our neighbor on the basis of how much money he has or does not have, how about we do like Jesus commanded and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR. Let’s stop attaching hate labels to groups of people and let’s forget about whether or not he “deserves” what he gets – and just do what we can to help when we have opportunity, as well as work to provide for our own.

Let’s stop whining about how hard we have worked to earn our way and we are entitled to keep every penny and do with it as we will, and I have more than you because I worked harder than you, and planned better than you, and I am smarter than you and on and on.

It is time to drop the delusion that wealth defines us and we get what we deserve .

Can we just drop the labels, judgments, condemnations, preconceived notions, and generalizations based onsocio-economic status? After all, we are all human beings in need of God’s mercy. We are all in the same boat, and I pray that we don’t get what we deserve, because that would be complete and utterannihilation for every last one of us.

It is high time to ditch “get rid of” thinking in exchange for “love your neighbor.” Let’s dig deeper and find our reserves of compassion, empathy, mercy, and love for our fellowman.

Leave the selfishness, greed, condemnation, and arrogance by the wayside. Humble ourselves, be thankful we have the ability to provide for our own, and most of all, let’s LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

But for the grace of God, that could be any one of us.

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

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(*I realize that “rich”, “wealthy”, “poor”, “working class” are relative terms. For the sake of clarity: Poverty level – $23,000 and less (farmers, chicken catchers); lower middle class -approx $32000-60,000 (teachers, farmers, policemen); upper middle class – approx $100,000 (upper management); wealthy or “rich” (CEOs)- $250,000 and up (commonly referred to as the 1%) This comes from U.S.News “Money”)