What profit a man if he gains on Wall St., but suffers the loss of his soul? Many eyes were on the bail-out of our financial infrastructure, perhaps an appropriate concern for normalcy in a modern material world. However, the true long-term investor may realize that his portfolio should include stocks that appreciate in the marketplace of eternal life. Thus investment strategies should follow the ageless principles embodied in morality, integrity, and truth.
Further, the prudent investor does not fabricate a reality of convenience, but accepts with necessary courage, the hard facts of “reality as it is.” This truth finds a timely relevance as one votes, chooses, or hires one to direct their company, country, or to influence their lives. This truth also suggests a selection of persons guided by ageless principles and a resume not reflected by words in 20 days or weeks before the day of choice, but by their actions and choices in the long term, of 20 or more years.
Since the validity of human behavior is a product found in long-term actions and choices, and not in the short term advertisement of words, believe more what a person “has done” than what he or she says they “will do.”
The lesson is, “Be careful how you invest.” Look not at the short term attributes of rhetoric, but the long term investment in character and principles. This requires honesty with oneself in matching qualifications that satisfy the realities of job responsibilities, while being careful not to seek image over factual ability.
Therefore, invest wisely!
The writer is a parishioner at St. Augustine, Williamsport.