Giving Rant
As I left work today, I updated my Facebook status to read: “I’m feeling especially opinionated today. Feel free to ask me for advice. You may get some unsolicited advice anyway…” Suprisingly, several people actually asked for advice.
One of them was my Uncle Mark. He asked for some advice on investing his 401k. My response was to give it all away - investing in people yields a better return on investment.
A few minutes later, my wife handed me Monday’s Wichita Eagle and asked if I’d read the article about giving. I had not…
Rant on!
The article summarized some analysis by The McClatchy Company on a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey. You can read the source article here.
This graph which I borrowed off their website says it all.
The poorest people in America are the most generous! Seriously? I have to say that this really blew me away.
Apparently, the rest of us are a bunch of schmucks. The poor give twice as much, on average, as middle and upper class people.
Maybe the rest of us need to quit supersizing our #1 Value Meals, our cars, our houses, and our plasma T.V.’s, and focus instead on helping others and giving back to the community.
Start tithing to your church. Buy food for the single mom working two jobs down the street. Pledge money to NPR so they’ll end the pledge drive sooner. Do something.
If you fail to invest in and support something bigger than yourself, you’re going to live a very, very small life… Quit hoarding it all for yourself. You can’t take it with you in the end…
Rant off…
Great post! Something I definitely need to remember.
This is common knowledge in the nonprofit sector. It’s always those who have less to give who give the most. I think when people have been down and out themselves they understand and give back.