JOB vs. Ebenezer

My FSO has been comparing himself to Job.

But I would put forth the arguement that he is more the old Ebenezer Scrooge.

Job was a father and husband. He lost everything. In these things, FSO can claim to be a Job.

But....

FSO did not have his children, wife, livelihood, home removed by a testing god. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, he moved through life with a chance at all good things. If you have read The Christmas Carol, it doesnt show Alice (his old girlfriend) helping destitute ladies as it does in the movie. Instead, Scrooge gets to see that she has married and has children and what a happy family life she has. And he sees how this could have been his too. Scrooge made choices in his life that were solely made based on greed. There was no greater good besides himself.

So I postulate this theory. That just like Scrooge, FSO could have moved through our life as a beloved father and husband, valued brother and son, and important co-worker instead of shunned and ostracized by all. But at every point where he could have made decisions that would have made sacrifices for a greater love - a love more than himself - he chose himself. And sacrificing for others - especially doing so gladly - is something that takes practice. The longer he didnt do it, the harder it was to see there was something other than himself in life. This was true of Scrooge - except Scrooge isolated himself and focussed on his business. The FSO wasnt greedy for gold. His needs and wants came at the expense of all else. He kept connections nourished only to the point that they fed his narcissism. We left no stone unturned in trying to bring him into our family circle. Time and again he refused. Now he is unmoored, floating around in his mental world.

He identifies with Job in that he has lost everything - and he has indeed lost everything. But this "everything" is full of things he had no value for in the past and I seriously doubt he values them now. I believe he is mourning the loss of his hearth and home and family because of the associated comforts and feeling of control he has lost. Having no discernible relationship with us, he certainly is not missing anything there.


And so there is no conclusion to make except FSO is more Ebenezer before his saving than Job. Unlike Ebeneezer Scrooge, however, there is no way for him to be a new man.