I visited with John Halberg curator of NDSU Institute for Regional Studies last week and spent time just paging through the A. R. Scherling Christian Literature Book Collection – this was a peak experience. My grandfather’s NDSU books cannot be check out, can be read there, and several I will be returning to read. I asked about the possibility of creating the A.R. Scherling Speakers Series and was referred up the ladder. So, I attended on Tuesday 10/12 NDSU’s Wold Conversations in Business Ethics at Richard H. Barry Hall. This was the first time I had been in Barry Hall and took time before the conversation to walk through the building, looking through many door windows at students listening to a teacher – each classroom is named for a donor. There are no classrooms named Scherling, which would have required a family donation – I then sensed Arvid and Sophia whispering, quickly turned, seeing no one, I walked up the stairs and into the Richard H. Barry Hall room, to wait for the Conversation to begin.
The Wold speaker was Dr. Siri Terjesen, Professor & Associate Dean for Research and External Relations at FAU Business, who had been speaking in several classes – this appearance was not substantive to what I was expecting. She mentioned only in passing Adam Smith and his Invisible Hand – this was her only academic issue needing a comment and I began to outline it in my notebook as I listened. Here is what I asked Dr. Terjesen: “There is a scene in A Beautiful Mind where John Nash and his fellow colleagues are in a pub talking and a beautiful blond woman is looking at John from across the room. Nash then has an epiphany seeing that Adam Smith needs revision, in that “everyone in the group needs to do what is best for him/herself and also for the group. It’s the only way we all get laid”. Here is the scene from A Beautiful Mind on Adam Smith needing revision.
Siri responded that she was not good at remembering movie scenes but then went on to briefly outline the issue of the individual and the collective. I was not satisfied and thought to then suggest that maybe she needed to add Karl Marx to her list of preferred economists but thought better of this, besides I was sitting in 4th row directly facing her up on the stage with her nylon stockinged crossed legs and became disorientated. I next imagined sitting at the Bisson Turf with John Nash thinking about how we might have gotten laid!
I next discovered NDSU’s Menard Family Distinguished Speakers series located in the Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth. I walked into Institute’s reception area and picked up a brochure, discovering again no Scherling name. I then sensed Orlando and Billiette’s disappointments – our ancestors were awakening to something amiss – after 100 Years of Scherlings in Fargo, there is no meaningfully significant tribute to our ancestors! There, did you feel that tremor – beware of your dreams in the night!
This bookcase photo is of Arvid’s books, not in the NDSU collection, was just assembled in what is sure to become a Fargo landmark, The Scherling Garage Collection. On top are 6 boxes, 300 books of Orlando’s Scherling Photo Book, which are being given away to each visitor as long as they last, and on lowest shelves are two sections of textbooks on global business. I suggested to brother Michael that there is a system of integration here needing to be realized! The effort to establish The A.R. Schering Lecture Series, would be much easier than expected, an infrastructure at NDSU already exists! The Scherlings just need to write a check! Steven Arvid Scherling
