Page 5 - CROSSROADS - Febmary 1978
Iverson Addresses Class
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Insight
By FR. JOHN P. BKADI.EY
Mr. F. Kenneth Iverson,
president of Nucor Steel Cor
poration of Charlotte, was
recently the guest lecturer in
the Economic Geography Class
at Belmont Abbey College.
The topic of Iverson’s lecture
was “How Small Steel Com
petes with Big Steel in a Time of
Industry Crisis.” In his talk he
also explained to the class the
contribution of small industrial
companies to the American
market.
The Nucor Steel Corporation,
supplying 25 percent of all steel
joists sold in the United States,
operates from three plants in
South Carolina, Texas, and
Nebraska. Iverson took charge
of the company in the sixties
and has since initiated a tur
nabout which took the company
from a 2 million dollar deficit in
1965 to a' 25 percent equity
return in 1974.
Iverson contributes his
success to expansion policies
which included a concentration
on the production of steel joists
and a lack of union labor
restrictions. Nucor employees
work on a bonus incentive plan
which, according to Iverson,
increases productivity and
provides an opportunity for
higher wages.
KENNETH IVERSON
Immediately following his
presentation, Iverson was the
guest of honor at a luncheon in
the Oak Room of the College.
Also attending the luncheon
were Fr. .lohn Bradley,
president of the College,
Warren Clark, vice president
for development, and Jack
llanahan, chairman of the
physical science division of the
College.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Over the last few months. Father Bradley has made a
number of video tapes for a television program titled
Something To Think About. - These tapes are shown at
various times on Channel 3, WBTV in Charlotte.
Transcripts of four of these video tapes appear below.
VALUES
An article in a recent issue of the New Yorker
Magazine, describing the celebration in London of Queen
Elizabeth’s Jubilee, makes the following observation:
“People remarked with pleasure that it was natural for
the older generation to turn out to acclaim the queen
since old-fashioned loyalty was built into their systems.
But it was the often much criticized, worrying,
frustrated young who were also seen voting with lungs of
brass for the visible idea of steady devotion to duty,
happy marriage and family life, strong religious feeling,
and unfailing reliability.” Note well those values which
the young people applauded; steady devotion to duty,
happy marriage and family life, strong religious feeling,
and unfailing reliability. Note, too, that they voted for
these values with “lungs of brass” because they saw
them exemplified in the life of Queen Elizabeth.
Over the past few years in my work with young people
at Belmont Abbey College, I have often thought of the
difficulties they have to face in these times. They need
and want, I believe, to see in their parents, teachers,
national leaders, in the adult society generally, these
very values the British youngsters saw and applauded in
Queen Elizabeth. Too seldom, unfortunately, nowadays
do they see this.
Consider, too, that the educational philosophy to which
they are exposed in most schools, colleges, and
universities today does nothing to reinforce these values.
Again, they are constantly exposed also to the all-
pervasive, vast apparatus of various media
disseminating attitudes that undermine these values.
Considering all these difficulties our young people face
nowadays, at a time in their lives when they have to
form for themselves a sound value system that will give
meaning and purpose to their lives, is it any wonder they
are often so frustrated? We adults should learn that the
sound values desperately needed by our young people
and the society we live in can only be taught if we
practice what we preach.
SPIRITUAL YEARNINGS
E. F. Schumacher, a British economist and in
ternationally renowned adviser on technology to various
governments, came to the United States in the Spring of
1977 on a lecture tour and created here something of a
sensation. Audiences overflowed wherever he spoke.
fifty members of Congress assembled in Washington to
hear him, and President Carter arranged to meet with
him in private. His message, drawn from a book he had
written in 1973 titled Small Is Beautiful, challenged the
efficiency and morality of high-consumption economics
and industrial giantism.
Schumacher’s warning that there is an end to growth
and to endless consumption is timely, but for me the
deeper and even more important part of his message is
expressed in this statement; “The modern experiment
to live without religion has failed.” He reached this
conclusion rather recently, for, as he tells us, “I was
brought up with an anti-religious stance in the spirit of
science,” and only a few years ago “my eyes were
opened lo Christianity.” ’This led him to an ancient truth
often obscured in our times, a truth he expressed thus:
“Man’s needs are infinite and can be fulfilled only in the
spiritual realm.”
We rightly marvel at the fine achievements of modern
science, but we should also realize that many of the
problems baffling highly industrialized societies today
are beyond the reach of all the marvels of science. We
human beings have needs that billions of dollars cannot
meet, we have yearnings that material things can never
satisfy, for, as another ancient truth reminds us, “Man
does not live by bread alone.”
HUMAN LIMITATIONS
Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst
form of political system ... except all the others.” This
remark contains an important insight into human
nature, an insight that is too often ignored nowadays, for
it draws our attention to the fact that any system in
volving human beings will be limited and flawed to some
extent simply because human beings have their flaws
and limitations. Consequently, Churchill tells us, even in
the best democratic political system, elected
representatives of the people will be limited in their
efforts to achieve the common good and some of them
will abuse the trust placed in them by their constituents.
Churchill reminds us, however, that despite these
human failings, the democratic system is better than
any alternative.
This important insight into human nature is not
grasped, it seems to me, by the many people in our
society nowadays who seemingly are “turned off the
system” at the first glimpse of human failings. These
people unrealistically believe that human institutions
can be perfect.
We should, of course, always strive to improve our
political system, our economic system, and, indeed, all
our institutions, and we should punish those who abuse
them. At the same time, however, we should also always
strive to avoid the utopianism that foolishly imagines
any human society can be flawless.
The poet, Robert Burns, had some realistic advice for
those caught up in the utopianism that is abroad in our
times when he said; “There’s so much good in the worst
of us and so much bad in the best of us, it ill becomes any
of us to say aught of the rest of us.”
CRISIS OF MEANING
Recently I gave the graduation talk at a high school
and 1 opened the talk by quoting a few lines of the song
“What ’s It All About, Alfie?” - What’s it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live? What’s it all about
when we sort it out, Alfie?
1 cho.se this topic for a number of reasons: the
que.stion posed in the song is and always has been the
most fundamentally important question for each and
every human being, the ultimate human question -- Who
am I, and what is the meaning of my life? Despite this,
our schools and colleges nowadays pay little attention
lo it, something 1 believe the great thinkers who have
addressed this question throughout the ages would find
surprising.
Secondly, I chose this topic because I agree with the
many thoughtful observers of our present times who
warn us that we suffer from a crisis of meaning. Our
materialistic technological culture tends to deper
sonalize us, making it more difficult for us to have a sure
grasp of our identity as human beings and confusing us
as to the true meaning and purpose of our lives. This
leads lo the many .social problems so common today:
drug addiction, alcoholism, animalistic sexual excess,
runaway divorce rates, soaring suicides, etc.
Throughout the ages human beings have found the
most satisfying answers to the question who am I and
what’s the meaning of my life in the teachings of the
world’s great religions which offer a spiritual answer lo
this ultimate human question. But a spiritual answer
demands faith, and faith is not highly regarded in our
materialistic technological lives.
We should, I believe, have learned, however, that
money and material things are not the answer to our
crisis of meaning. One dramatic piece of evidence for
that was provided by the miserable life and death of that
poor, pathetic billionaire. Howard Hughes. For me and
for millions of others even today is the spiritual answer
furnished by my Christian Faith. Commenting on this,
the brilliant Saint Augustine said; “My heart was made
for Thee, O God, and if is restless till it rests in Thee.”
And that’s what it’s all about. Alfie.
Now that is something to think about!