“Nobility Obliges.” Or that is how Noblesse
Oblige translates directly from French. I’d first encountered the phrase when I
went to study at the University of Stellenbosch, where it was the motto of my
residence, Simonsberg. More formally translated: “Nobility has a duty.” Or as
the Oxford Dictionary puts it, nobility constrains to honourable behaviour, and
privilege entails to responsibility.
Today, of course, we no longer have a
nobility, no class of citizens that officially ‘above’ the rest. We live in a
free country, as equals, and as such, we seem to have forgotten the concept of
Noblesse Oblige in our new free world. It seems that while we’ve embraced our
new freedom of being equal before the law, we have forgotten that we are not
all simply copies of the same person. Some are more equal than others.
Some inequalities are easily observable. If
you look around, you will see people of different genders, different races,
different heights, different builds, even at different ages. You will see
people with different abilities, of different means and people who’ve had
different opportunities. But because we’re all ‘equal,’ we’ve come to think
we’ve earned what we’ve got, and that no one can tell us what to do with it.
This idea of a ‘self-made’ man, is of
course a myth. No one was born with the ability to feed and dress herself, or
to read herself, or so many other things. No one built the roads he drove on
himself, laid the pipes and wires that supply his house with water and
electricity himself. No one built a company all by herself without employees.
We were, and are, all dependent on one another for our survival in modern
society.
Some of us have found ourselves of greater
means than our fellow citizens, either due to having greater ability, or by
having had greater opportunity. But all that we have achieved, we’ve had our
society that has carried us and given us the opportunity to do so. Why is it,
then, that we’ve forgotten Noblesse Oblige?
Over the past few decades, as democracy and
freedom has taken hold across the globe, it seems a sense of dog-eat-dog
individualism has overtaken the world. We believe we are entitled to the fruits
of our labour, and we’ll go to great lengths to ensure we take every
opportunity to get what is ours, and to frustrate the efforts of those who
would take some from us.
It is why when the Panama Papers were
released, we saw so many of the rich and powerful worldwide try to hide money
from their own governments, that they did wish taken from them in the form of
taxes. It is why the problem of corruption and state capture are so endemic in
our southern neighbour. It is why people were so up in arms when our President
floated the idea of a Solidarity Tax. And it is why, when a poor beggar is
asking for money or food, people make up all sorts of excuses to avoid helping
their fellow man.
“They’ll only spend it on booze!” Because
that’s what you would do if you’re in their position? Or is it that you assume
being poor reflects a moral failing? Corruption and tax evasion arte certainly
not moral positions, and yet they almost exclusively occur amongst those
already rich. I think it’s fair to say that your financial position in no way
determines your moral character. Or is it that you do not think they’re
entitled to what you’ve earned? That implies you think you are entitled to what
you’ve earned…
If you take a look at the word
‘entitlement,’ you’ll be sure to notice its root. The word ‘Title.’ An
entitlement, traditionally, was a title to a deed of land given to a noble of
the king. We might need to start remembering that these ‘fruits’ we’re
‘entitled’ to, was granted to us by the society we inhabit, for utilizing our
talents and opportunities. We might all be free, but all of us who have been
entitled, also have a duty to the society that has entitled us. Noblesse
Oblige.
In my opinion, it was the most entitled man
in history, John D Rockefeller Jr, who explained it best. “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every
opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law
was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the
people and not their master. I believe in the dignity of labour, whether with
head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an
opportunity to make a living. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a
man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character—not wealth or power or
position—is of supreme worth.”
No man is an island, and so too can no man
be a success in isolation. It is a form of supreme arrogance to recognize your
own hard work and perseverance in your success, but not to recognize those
people and the society that has helped you achieve it. While you may not have
reached the pinnacle of success, it remains easy to see those around you who
have not. Your noble success entails a responsibility.
The world is slowly recognizing the need
for those privileged few who have reached the zenith of success to reach out
and help the society that has aided in success. The billionaires of the world
have taken the credo of John D Rockefeller Jr and built on it, via the Giving
Pledge. Started by William Henry Gates III, the Giving Pledge campaign has so
far had US$ 365 billion pledged by 139 high net worth individuals to be donated
to charity throughout their lifetimes or on their death.
We are fortunate to live in a country where
the government embodies the spirit of Noblesse Oblige. Our President Geingob
won the election with an unprecedented majority, on the promise that he will
use the power granted to him by the people, for the people. His Harambee
Prosperity plan shows his commitment to the duty his noble office demands of
him. But it will all be for naught if the people themselves don’t embody the
duty we have towards our society as well.
