Recently I listened to an interview with Ray Dalio, an influential American hedge fund manager. Now, I’m not lifting up or putting down Mr. Dalio, but he said something I thought was very interesting.
He was talking about what it was going to take to fix the problems in our economy brought to light by COVID-19, though they were actually caused many decades ago.
“We have enough resources to make it all fine, and we have enough creativity. It’s all going to depend on how we are with each other, whether we can do this together in a inclusive, more bipartisan way, and do it in a skilled way, calmly, or whether we’re going to fight with each other. If we fight with each, either internally or even externally, it’s going to make this thing very painful… So it really is up to us of how we’re gonna be with each other. That is the most important thing.”
That’s hard to argue with. In fact, I won’t.
But I noticed earlier in the interview he was asked like this. “So Ray, you’re a billionaire. What is your role, and other billionaires like you, in all this?” Unfortunately, I thought his answer was a beautiful side step. After a few descriptions, he arrived at, ‘each person has to decide what to do.’
It reminds me of a passage that appears all through the Biblical book of Judges.
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” – Judges 17:6
Jesus gave a different, and harder, command. Love one another. Commands require no decision, only how to do it. In deference to Mr. Dalio, I don’t know exactly what he meant. But we do know what Jesus meant. And I don’t know how it’s done without God at the center.
Help others as much as you help yourself. Think of others before you think of yourself. Have a mutual concern for one another.
If you haven’t read the story of the good Samaritan in awhile, now’s a good time to read it in Luke 10:25-37.
I think Mr. Dalio likes the idea, but I’m not sure if it’s clear that each person must change, not just the country. But Jesus was super clear on what that looks like for all of us, rich and poor, black and white.
We’ve been given a new command and hard times don’t make it easier, but they make it more important than ever.
