Easter Egg Hunt
A local church has an active outreach ministry which
includes an after school mentoring program for elementary age students. During
Holy week the Senior Pastor and volunteers decided that the leftover eggs from
the previous week’s Easter Egg Hunt could be used to provide a fun time for the
kids after they had finished their homework. The Senior Pastor and volunteers
hid over 100 eggs in the church courtyard for the 6 elementary students to
find.
The Senior Pastor left the group to go teach an adult Bible
Study class. A few minutes later the sky started clouding up and rain began to
threaten. The Associate Pastor decided to move the hunt from the outdoors into
the sanctuary. The Associate and the volunteers hid the eggs and when the kids’
homework time was finished they gathered for the hunt. The Associate instructed
the kids that they could each find15 eggs and that was all that they could
have.
The Associate wanted to be fair to all by limiting the
number of eggs that each could find to 15. The egg hunts that I remember would
have resulted in some kids getting 20 eggs and some getting 10 and the adults
holding a few eggs back so that everybody got some. If there were a slow child,
an adult could always be counted on to give them a little assist in order to
level the playing field.
It occurs to me that this is the way socialism works. With the
best of intentions, socialists want everyone to have the same. What we observe
is that the mad scramble to get eggs is reduced to lethargy because all will
receive the same regardless of their initiative. When those who produce the
most are rewarded the same as those producing the least, then there remains no
incentive for effort.
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