I put the book down, and wept.
I read The Search for God and Guinness, right after the recession.
And I thought, “If all employers treated people as did Guinness, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Watch our 2 minute video or read the full text below.
A beer company founder and his offspring showed that treating workers with respect
and turning a proit are not mutually exclusive
Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young
people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video).
Picture Credit: Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT BELOW
This company was originally founded over 200 years ago. Workers enjoyed the attention of fully qualified doctors who staffed an onsite clinic for all employees and their families. Health care included dentists, pharmacists, nurses, even a masseuse. Retirees received pensions without making personal contributions. The company created a savings bank and contributed to a fund from which workers could borrow to purchase houses. The corporation paid for employees to attend technical schools, funding more advanced education for those who wanted it. A lending library, museum, musical society, lounges for contemplation, and athletic leagues were built. Every employee was given extra wages to take his family on holidays. Families whose fathers were called to military service, continued to collect a salary and the worker’s job awaited them after combat.
City squalor and disease was turned back by this company’s own version of “urban renewal.” From their efforts, modern versions of The Red Cross were established. One of the owner’s sons, receiving millions of dollars on his wedding day, moved into a house in his city’s slums and started a series of programs for the poor. And lest we think the company’s fortune produced a product unfit for people, in 2003 the University of Wisconsin reported that a pint of Guinness beer a day is good for the human heart. That’s right, I said Guinness beer. You can read the story for yourself in Stephen Mansfield’s masterful book The Search for God and Guinness.
Many in our world cry for justice. To some, justice is making up for past wrongs. To others, justice is a master plan to usurp the usurpers. Still more think justice is getting a favorable court ruling. But if we would follow the Christian example of the Guinness family we would gain justice
by one act: showing people respect by how we treat them.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking Truth wherever it’s found.