RUST COMMENTARY: BILL BRADLEY QUESTS FOR ANSWERS ABOUT LIFE

Besides reading more of the Bible lately, primarily because of my church activities, I've recently listened to audio tapes of Bill Bradley's book "Time Present, Time Past" and ED ROLLINS book "Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms," both of which are interesting but disillusioning.

Bradley's book is continuously searching for the meaning and importance of one's life and identifying many of the right problems, but in my opinion proposes the wrong solution. I'm reading a book called "Business as a Calling" by Michael Novak. About 20 years ago some younger Cape businessmen did a breakfast group study on Novak's book "Spirit of Democratic Capitalism" led by Stan Metheny, who's gone on to big things in the insurance industry.

In later columns I'll list some quotes from this book, but the cover leaf comments will give you some of the flavor:

"Why do we work so hard at our jobs, day after day? Why is a job well done important to us? We know there is more to a career than money and prestige, but what exactly do we mean by 'fulfillment'? These are old but important questions. They belong with some newly discovered ones: Why are people in business more religious than the population as a whole? What do people of business know, land what do they do, that anchors their faith? In this ground-breaking and inspiring book, Michael Novak ties together these crucial questions by explaining the meaning of work as a vocation. Work should be more than just a job -- it should be a calling.

"This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way, and readers will instantly recognize themselves in its pages. A larger proportion than ever before of the world's Christians, Jews, and other peoples faith are spending their working lives in business. Business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations, fraught with moral possibilities both of great good and of great evil. Novak takes on agonizing problems, such as downsizing, the tradeoffs that must sometimes be faced between profits and human rights, and the pitfalls of philanthropy. He also examines the daily questions of how an honest day's work contributes to the good of many people, both close at hand and far away. Our work connects us with one another. It also makes possible the universal advance our of poverty, and it is an essential prerequisite of democracy and the institutions of civil society.

"This book is a spiritual feast, for everyone who wants to examine how to make a life through making a living."

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Vocation (Lat. Vocatio, a calling): the function or career toward which one believes himself to be called. -- New World Dictionary

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I attended the "common hour" at Southeast Missouri State University Wednesday to hear TONY SNOW and BOB BECHTEL. A nice crowd of about 400 was treated to an excellent example of informative debate by two friendly adversaries.

It was time well spent, and hopefully more of the 7,000 students and 400-plus faculty members will take advantage of the scheduled opportunities for broadening one's experience.

DR. LINDA GODWIN of astronaut fame will be the speaker next Wednesday.

Incidentally, like many faces with multiple events from which to choose, I missed the excellent message from WHITEY HERZOG at the Area Wide United Way kickoff.

We had others from our company in attendance there.

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All economic systems rest on greed, but capitalism, because it depends on profit, is the one that disciplines greed. In the process of improving that discipline, capitalism ... encourages civility, trust, self-command, and cosmopolitanism by first making these traits useful and then making them habitual. -- Summary of Max Weber Views

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The Cape public schools are working hard to come up with a new physical facilities plan at a reasonable cost that would be acceptable to the voters of this community.

I think that by next spring Cape will be ready to move forward in approving a well-discussed and explained program.

With the Notre Dame High School, the proposed Christian school, a much-needed expanded area vocational school and Southeast Missouri State University vocational trade and training plans ... Cape is ready to move ahead to best educate its current and future students.

This area is certainly growing and needs to not restrict itself.

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They're building general aviation airplanes again the United States. Why? Because the cost of insuring new planes against product liability suits is now between $15,000 and $16,000 per plane, down from the $70,000 to $85,000 per plane makers reported prior to the product liability reform, reducing the liability time covered to 15 years. The litigiousness of this society costs us all.

The costs of running a business shouldn't have to continuously be threatened by the law from the private or public sectors. This article comes from the September 1996 Missouri Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri in its lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Insurance and the director of insurance.

The suit was filed because the Missouri Chamber believes that insurance director Jay Angoff overstepped his authority in demanding that BCBSMo pay a sort of "toll charge" for creating Right CHOICE Managed Care Inc.

"This amounts to an unfair tax on Blue Cross and Blue Shield's members," said Jo Frappier, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. "It threatens competition in the health care market -- competition that benefits consumers through greater choice and lower costs."

When BCBSMo created Right CHOICE in 1994, it had the approval of Missouri's Department of Insurance. But less than a year later, Angoff began demanding that the company pay as much as $500 million of its members' assets as a "toll charge" for the reorganization.

I'd like to see Governor Carnahan curb in the activities of some of the state bureaucracy ... including the call on paying unemployment compensation to striking workers at McDonnell Douglas.

~Gary Rust is the president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.