Friday; November 23
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s not personal, it’s just business”? Do you know where that comes from? No, it has nothing to do with accounting or marketing – it comes from American mobsters. According to several sources, Otto Berman was the one who coined the phrase. While it does have a certain allure to it, we need to consider Berman’s fate. If the quote did come from Berman, we should keep in mind that on October 23, 1935 Berman was killed in a gangland hit in an attempt on the life of Mafia boss Dutch Schultz. While few of us are apt to live by the code of organized crime, it is tempting to justify suspending our spirituality in the interest of things such as politics or business. In essence, we attempt to excuse certain actions by claiming, “It’s not wrong to cheat someone, it’s just good business” or “It’s not wrong to support immorality, it’s just being political.”. We might be able to justify this in our minds, but that doesn’t seem to fit God’s teaching.