Growing up, I had no spoon-fed neighbors who were ‘born with silver spoons in their mouths.’ The silver spoon refers to affluence, wealth, privilege, or the best life has to offer. Everyone had to work and earn a livelihood.
Many trace the silver spoon idiom to Oliver Goldsmith, an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. Goldsmith said, “One man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, another with a wooden ladle.”
If a silver spoon refers to wealth, a wooden ladle must refer to low-income or working-class people.
For some reason, we omit the ladle portion of the saying. I’ve never heard anyone say an individual was ‘born with a ladle in his or her mouth.’
Many people born with silver spoons are great delegators and poor doers; most things are done for them, not by them. We’ve all heard about the spoiled, nonworking boardroom-sitters of the powerful, rich, and famous.
My granddaughters would love a BMW at 16, a pre-paid college education, and a guaranteed partnership at a high fa looting firm, without lifting a finger or even breaking a nail.
But they weren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths. They will work like their parents are doing and like I did to earn a living and make their dreams come true.
Working is honorable, but I’m not saying not working isn’t honorable.
The have-nots are the real working class, the backbone of America when they are afforded a job and opportunity to care for their families and achieve their dreams.
Who’s going to do the mean grunt work? Who will be the vegetable and meat farmers?
McDonald’s, Publix, waste management departments, and other jobs need workers.
We can choose our friends and spouses but not wealthy birth parents.
Ask a bunch of first graders if they want rich or poor parents; they know the difference.
These working or poor parents don’t employ maids; they are the maids who cook, clean, wash, and care for the rich.
There’s a startling difference between a wooden ladle and a silver spoon.
Goldsmith could have easily said others are born with a wooden spoon, but he didn’t. I wonder why he chose a wooden ladle instead of a spoon. Ladles are deep cup-shaped bowls with long handles.
A spoon is better fitted for one’s mouth than a ladle. People don’t eat with ladles. We use ladles to serve soups, stews, sauces, and other liquid foods.
Whether born with a gold or silver spoon, the well-to-do have little or no worries about their status and quality of life.
What about the poor or working class with their wooden ladles?
Mother Theresa said, “The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than we give them.”
Colossians 3:23 reminds us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
Believe it or not, honest work is good!
Be well.