On Tap from the Pub

By Tom Field

Executive Summary:

Helping others by helping yourself.

Me first

I’m glad people put themselves first.

That doesn’t sound very charitable, does it? As I write this, it’s a terrible day in world history. We’re pulling out of Afghanistan from the international airport in Kabul; and we’re all watching the horrific scenes as Afghanis are so desperate and fearful of full Taliban return, they scramble across the tarmac, overwhelm the boarding stairs, chase down the taxiing plane, and even attach themselves to landing gear as if there was any chance in holding on the jet flight away.

What’s telling to me is the disconnect from the old distress call we thought we all knew: “Women and children first!” Even as the people flee the war-torn, evil-filled land, where sitting at the top of the list of centuries’ old atrocities is that society’s oppression of women—the oppression prevails. It reveals itself even in the escape attempt. There are virtually no women and children being “saved.”

“Women and children first!” is displaced by the most primitive, inhumane, survival chant of all: “Every man for himself!”

Most of us probably think it would be nice to see a man, or a group of men, holding others back. Helping and insisting the mob gives way to a path, where women and children are ushered into the evacuating plane. We’ve heard of this before; in sinking ships, for example. But that is simply not going to happen here at this airport. Not in this place. Not at this time.

There is a time, place, and way when putting yourself first is serving others. It’s similar to grabbing the oxygen mask on a plane when it pops down during decompression. You can’t help others if you are incapacitated.

Adam Smith put it this way: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”

Selfish, I know.

But underneath that capitalistic business man or women, that greedy little entrepreneur, is a desire to produce something that people will want, enjoy, appreciate, or need. The butcher, brewer, and baker first must find a way to support their idea and vocation. That includes provisions for their own food, clothing,