Labor Omnia Vincit

Some time ago, I came into a love for Latin phrases. I’ve been keeping a list of ones I like as I come across them. Recently I saw a picture of a t-shirt with an imprint of the state of Oklahoma on the front and above it was the Latin words “Labor Omnia Vincit.” It means “hard work conquers everything.”

Here in Antananarivo, Madagascar one of the primary ways things are moved about are by loading them on what I would describe as miniature ox carts. They have car wheels and tires and they are usually bowed out at the bottom, presumably from the weight they’ve borne over the years. They have flat wood beds that are mounted on steel rails that extend out front past the bed and also act as handles by which they are pulled. In the back end there is usually steel poles sticking up with one across the top, forming the shape of a roll bar. This is used to help secure loads and also as a place for someone to push from behind.

Antananarivo isn’t flat ground. So, once these are loaded, young men without shoes and tattered sweat stained clothing push and pull them up and down the street, making deliveries here and there.

The other day, a group of young men arrived to the place where we are staying with a load full of plastic jerry cans. They were full of water. I can only guess at how much their load weighed, but it had to have been in the hundreds of pounds. That morning they had pushed it up a series of winding, hilly roads to fill a water well.

I asked Mark what kind of pay they got for that kind of work. He said it was the equivalent of about $3.00.

I still believe that Labor Omnia Vincit contains truth. I’m also convinced there are other factors to be accounted for and I’m not sure I understand what all of those are. Culture, government policies, a healthy economic system, a respect for human dignity… Those things might scratch the surface but they all play a part in poverty and prosperity.

The most important factor, the one we forget about and leave out, would be the blessing of God. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain,” the Psalmist wrote. (Psalm127:1).

I believe in and try to practice what has been called the Protestant work ethic. But within that ethic lies more than Labor Omnia Vincit. Our Labor must be blessed by the Lord’s working or it is all in vain.

The west is at a decision point in its history. As a culture we are either going to continue into unbelief and wickedness or turn back to the Lord in obedient faith.

If we choose the path of unbelief, the next generation will likely learn that hard work doesn’t conquer everything.

Hard labor