BEST and BIGGEST

In my office on the shelves of my personal library is an old cigar box… a John Ruskin Perfecto Extra’s box touting itself as the best and biggest. This box was one of many that my uncle Hershey owned, emptied and stored sundry items in. He occasionally would give his nephews and nieces one of these treasure chests to safely keep our adolescent cache of collectibles. I’ve long lost my original box that stashed such valuables as a rock shaped like a tiny foot, an eraser shaped like Goofy’s head, football and baseball cards, a Boy Scout knife and a buffalo nickel. My new box has new memorabilia but still has residing over its care, John Ruskin with his long white beard and knowing smile. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself: Who is John Ruskin? That is, until this week when the box caught my eye. So, who is this Santa-like character grinning over my treasures that have replaced his seven-cent cigars?

My research revealed that both Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. credited a collection of essays, Unto The Last, by John Ruskin for dramatically shaping the way they viewed both politics and the economy. The title, Unto this Last, refers to Christ's parable of the vineyard laborers from Chapter 20 of Matthew's Gospel. Ruskin who was born into wealth and raised by a religiously fanatic mother and an overbearing father became an idealist. He first distinguished himself as a poet, then as an art critic. His socialist views and eccentric lifestyle took its toll on him and his last years were plagued with mental illness. However, he never waned from his passion for the ideal and hope that every man could be the best and biggest!

Now, when I look at my uncle Hershey’s cigar box I’ll be reminded of two things: 1) Life has great meaning only in what God accomplishes through us… that is, my uncle Hershey never for a moment thought about John Ruskin except that it was a good cheap cigar. But what a hardworking share-cropper from central Texas shares with a English nobleman who influenced great thinkers is that everyone can be the best and the biggest through God’s help and grace; 2) Often we are surrounded by things that go unnoticed by us or are taken for granted. However, in God’s eyes they remain laborers worthy of their hire regardless of the circumstances of their employment… in His eyes we all are the best and the biggest! Hum, all that from an old cigar box. -DAN