The Economy of Heaven

So, today in church today, we heard a number of talks on the topic of service, and of note among them was one presented by a young and aspiring econ major. He talked about the meaning of the word service in contrast to goods, services being intangible acts, while goods represent actual commodities. He explained that economics is the study of the flow of services and goods, and then he explained something that I hadn't really thought about before: the study of economics is limited in its scope in that it can only measure a portion of the services rendered, as they can only account numerically and statistically for those services that are carried out in exchange for another service or commodity. A great many services, acts of kindness rendered by thousands on a daily basis, fall outside the scope of traditional economics and make up what I like to think of as the economy of heaven. This is the economy of selfless giving, of parents caring for young children, of friends in a time of need, of every teacher who realizes his/her noble call, of every disciple of Christ. This is the economy of friendships forged and hearts healed and little-boy scrapes, cleaned and kissed. No earthly model can adequately represent the good that is done each day in selfless service.

I recently read an article about gift economies, or societies wherein goods and services are given without any expectation of reciprocation. This kind of got me thinking about a social experiment that I carried out last semester, initially a response to Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of my Experiments with Truth. I felt that the charity that Gandhi spoke of and the charity that we read of in the scriptures weren't really present in modern America, and I wondered how people would respond to free giving. So, on Sundays, I would don one of a number of beautiful ties that I had picked up when I was in Ukraine on a proselytizing mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then, any time a guy would compliment me on my tie (guys are usually the ones to notice), I would immediately offer it to them. Their eyes would reflect first confusion, then desire, then embarrassment, and it was visible what a struggle they were going through inside. A few offered trades, and others accepted then later graciously turned down my offer, but in the end, not a one accepted the gift. Honestly, I don't know if that should be taken to mean anything, as it was sort of a set-up interaction -- I was an actor in a play --, but it's still interesting to think about the foreignness of the idea of gift economies in the eyes of America's general populace, in our own eyes. Perhaps it would benefit us all to practice a little bit more selfless giving.