During
the exercise, the millionaire never reveals who he or she is. In fact, said
millionaires literally become fellow “paupers”, armed only with a passion to
help. These folks spend time volunteering and getting to know the needs of
their community by walking the walk. By the end of the hour-long show, the
millionaire selects a few deserving organizations and makes a donation -- and,
yes, the donations are on the hefty side.
The show stuck a chord in
me; several chords if you want to get technical.
Awhile
back, I posted about what I do to “pay it forward” in life. And while my
“giving back” is not on quite the same fiscal scale as what you see on TV, it
is something I feel strongly about doing.
My Not-So-Dirty-Little
Secret
I choose
a cause, a person, an event or a charity that I feel are “deserving” of my
help, and I take action to help them. I do not do this because I want
accolades, a pat on the back or a wellspring of “Wow, that’s awesome,” Facebook comments or Twitter messages. In
fact, I do not talk about it at all. I just do it.
Because
if there is one thing I cannot stand, it is when hoi polloi announce virtuous
deeds. Truth be told, that kind of bragging makes me sick to my stomach.
Saying,
“I did this or that,” or listing out
your daily good deeds cheapens the act
itself. It shows that you are only out there to gain attention and adulation
from the masses. You might be doing the right thing, but you are doing them for
all the wrong reasons.
It
is the righteous deeds done in secret that truly seek no reward. And those are
my personal specialty.
Yet, I digress. The entire
point of my post is about being deserving. Let me
get back to that.
What does deserving mean
anyway?
I
believe that not everyone “deserves” help. I think there are people who would take
that help, suck it up like a parasite and turn it into poison. I believe these
people poison themselves, and I believe that they poison others.
It
is for this reason that I blatantly reject the notion of socialism. I don’t
believe in all of our money going into a community pot to be split equally
amongst the masses. Why? Quite simply because not all of the masses are
“deserving”.
I
believe that giving without strings robs someone of the power they need to
alter their life course. I believe in accountability for monetary gifts. I
believe in education. I believe, if you will, that it is far more productive to
teach a man to fish than it will ever be to hand deliver him fish until the end
of his days (naturally there are exceptions for the elderly and the legitimately
disabled here, but the point should be clear enough).
I
believe in teaching people to be self-sufficient, not in handing out money like
participation ribbons like an elementary school. Just because someone thinks
they “need” something, doesn’t always make them “deserving” of it. Sometimes,
what you really need is a struggle in place of a handout, and you need that
struggle so that you can grow and become a better person from the experience.
Hand ups, not handouts.
Sometimes,
you don’t get what you deserve, you
get what you need. And sometimes
that “need” comes in the form of a lesson. How you learn that lesson is up to
you. But life will continue to present you with the same lesson until you
finally learn it.
So
don’t mind me, I’m just trying to focus on being a faster learner.
YOUR TURN: How
do you define deserving?
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