The chicken or the ham

This morning at Mass, the priest shared with us during his homily a story whose message is not limited to either the Catholic Church or Christianity at large. Its moral has deep and important application to so many aspects of our society.

The tale is about a chicken and a pig who are walking along together. At one point in their stroll, they happen upon a church which was abuzz with activity. As it turned out, the parishioners were putting together a very large charitable event and the church grounds had become a scene of great joy and celebration as everyone was gearing-up for this enormous affair.

As the two stopped and observed all the bustle taking place, the pig was very moved by the joyous nature of how the parishioners labored to put together their charity event.

“There must be something we can do to help the members of this church,” said the pig. “It would be good of us to aid them.”

“I agree,” replied the chicken

“We should give in some way to this work of charity and make it that much more special,” the pig added.

And the chicken pondered, for a brief moment, before offering his suggestion, “I tell you what: you can give these people ham, while I can give them…

“…Eggs!”

After a few seconds of dismay, the pig responded, “Now, wait a minute! What you propose to offer is merely a contribution. Laying eggs is something you can do most days and it is of no injury to you what becomes of those eggs.

“For me to give ham is a commitment. In order for the people of this church to have ham from me, it means my life must become one that has been committed to this moment and this event.”

Therein lies the crucial difference that distinguishes a contribution from a commitment, whether it be to one’s place of worship, marriage, community, or even society as a whole.

It also applies to the fight to retain and fully restore America’s founding principles.

While contributing to this endeavor always is a good and worthy undertaking, in order to be truly successful, restoration of the Constitution of the United States of America is going to require a great many of us to make that commitment. For the ideal of Libertarianism to return to America’s forefront we must have those among us who will devote significant expanses of our time and energy (and on occasion sacrifice our dignity in the face of barbs and marginalization by those in opposition) toward that goal.

That difference between contributing and committing to Libertarianism may mean the difference between restoration or transformation in America.