Pressure Builds Greatness

Nations with Winter Become Productive

It is interesting that often the countries that suffer winter will have more productive citizens. This is because they must develop a “work-culture” where they have to plow and plant and harvest all within the available growing season. They must store food for the winter otherwise they will starve to death!

Proverbs 20:4 (NIV)
4 Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

Israel also had a winter season so the people knew that they had to plow and plant and cultivate and harvest during the summer months because when winter arrived they would have no food (except what they had grown and stored during the growing season). If a sluggard (lazy person) did not labor in the growing season then they would have nothing in the wintertime.

Proverbs 10:5 (NASB95)
5 He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.

All of the food was to be grown and harvested during the available growing season. Boys were trained that they were to think ahead and plan ahead so that as adults they would be able to provide for their own families. If a son was sleeping during harvest then that was a shameful thing (within Israeli culture) because they had developed a “work culture” where everyone knew they had to do their work during the growing season.

So there are tropical countries located along the equator which have never experienced snow or freezing temperatures. Often people from tropical places do not have the same work ethic of nations which have a winter season. In Hawaii for example they had a culture where they would eat fruit when it was in season or catch fish when it was in season and then live off of body fat in the off-season when they had no food available naturally. This is different than the work culture of nations that experience winter and are forced to play ahead and harvest and store food to survive in the winter season.

South Korea experiences cold winters and the South Koreans have a strong work ethic and labor to store food for the winter. However, North Korea has no free enterprise system so they suffer poverty (even if they do have a winter season). But the leader of North Korea spends all money on developing nukes to protect his position from overthrow. So North Korea does not prosper even with a winter season because the people are limited from prospering by that regime.

See the link “Strong Leader Verses Dictator” for more details.

Chaebol System of Korea Creates Fierce Competition for Jobs

A Chaebol is a large conglomerate usually controlled by a family and these large companies control much of the economy of South Korea. Getting a job at such a company is hard to do because there is fierce competition. Only the “best-of-the-best” with the highest education standards can land a job with one of the Korean Chaebols. This is why these companies have the best and most intelligent people working for them. But this pressure to complete is what makes South Koreans excel and be the best in any endeavor or field which they compete. Again, this “pressure” to preform is what makes greatness in the Koreans.

Threat of War Creates Pressure to Innovate

Also South Korea has a constant threat of war with the nuclear-armed regime of North Korea. This constant pressure forces every male to participate in mandatory military service. South Korea has also become a leading arms-producer which sells weapons worldwide for the defense industry. Again, the pressure of war is one more factor that puts pressure on South Koreans to produce and innovate in order to survive.

So having a cold winter or a threat of war or even high pressure to be the best to just get a job are all things that spawn greatness in the South Koreans. Therefore, it is pressure of these types of circumstances that forces people to labor and plan ahead and prepare and innovate and this helps them develop as individuals and as a nation.

Israel Under Pressure to Innovate to Survive

Also the small country of Israel has faced a constant threat of war since the rebirth of their nation in 1948. Israel is now called the “Startup-Nation” because they have so many tech startup enterprises and a high number of great innovations. All of this innovation were forced upon them by the pressure of survival. If they did not innovate they would perish because they are surrounded by hostile nations which are many times larger in size than their own tiny nation. The population of Israel is so small that there are actually more South Korean Expats working outside of South Korean than the entire population of Israel.

See the link “Koreans in Diaspora” for more details.

Stress and War and Hunger Motivates Humans to Overcome

There are many stress factors that can place pressure on humans to preform in order to survive. War and hunger are examples of this and so nations with winters typically produce citizens with a strong work ethic and a nation like South Korea or Israel with a constant threat of war also have a pressure to innovate in order to survive.

See the link “Startup Nation” for more details.

Biblical Theme of Overcoming

The bible teaches much about the topic of “overcoming” and humans are to overcome while living on earth in order to quality for heaven. It is the same spirit of overcoming found in those who face war and hunger and motivate themselves to innovate to survive.

See the link “Overcoming Christian” for more details.

All of these things are related to the topic of “Makers Verses Takers” because those who are “makers” are overcomers while those who are “takers” are typically those who only exploit others to feed themselves for free.

See the link “Makers Verses Takers” for more details.