專欄親愛的經濟學家

Dear Economist: Has my neighbour confused me with God?

When my neighbour was desperately searching for staff to run her guesthouse, I, after due deliberation about whether to get involved and much trouble, eventually found her a married couple who complied with all her demands. She now thanks God for bringing them to her.
Do you think she's confusing me with God? If so, should I gently remind her that I'm a simple earthly being and such high praise is making me feel a little uncomfortable? I would prefer you not to use my real name; I don't want any more people contacting me in search of miracles. In any case, my husband thinks this business has gone to my head.
Mrs S., South Africa

Dear Mrs S.

I would say that a more likely explanation of your neighbour's actions is that she is trying to ingratiate herself with God, not you. I can imagine how aggravating this is for you, given the trouble you've gone to, but this attitude makes sense if God is subject to flattery. God is, after all, omnipotent, so it must be better to have God on your side than plain Mrs S.

您已閱讀58%(1017字),剩餘42%(726字)包含更多重要資訊,訂閱以繼續探索完整內容,並享受更多專屬服務。
版權聲明:本文版權歸FT中文網所有,未經允許任何單位或個人不得轉載,複製或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵權必究。

親愛的經濟學家

蒂姆•哈福德(Tim Harford)是英國《金融時報》的經濟學專欄作家,他撰寫兩個欄目:《親愛的經濟學家》和 《臥底經濟學家》。他寫過一本暢銷書也叫做《臥底經濟學家》,這本書已經被翻譯爲16種語言,他現在正在寫這本書的續集。哈福德也是BBC的一檔節目《相信我,我是經濟學家》(Trust Me, I’m an Economist)的主持人。他同妻子及兩個孩子一起住在倫敦。

相關文章

相關話題

設置字型大小×
最小
較小
默認
較大
最大
分享×