Better or Better Off

Peter Maurin (1877-1949)

Co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Peter Maurin had a dramatic influence on Servant of God Dorothy Day.  He also had a talent for writing what he described as "easy essays."

They may be easy to read, but I doubt they were easy to write, and I know they are rather challenging to live!  Here's a sample, for your consideration, from the Houston Catholic Worker Newspaper (vol. XXXV, n. 5):

Better or Better Off

1. The world would be better off,
   if people tried
   to become better.
2. And people would
   become better,
   if they stopped trying
   to be better off.
3. For when everybody tries
   to become better off,
   nobody is better off.
4. But when everybody tries
   to become better,
   everybody is better off.
5. Everybody would be rich
   if nobody tried
   to be richer.
6. And nobody would be poor
   if everybody tried
   to be poorest.
7. And everybody would be
   what he ought to be
   if everybody tried to be
   what he wants the other
   fellow to be.