How Much Ya Got?

    In a society that's so affluent, surrounded by so much wealth,  it's no surprise we study the poor. We study what makes them poor and how they might deserve and employ our generosity and how they can quit being poor.  Generosity.  Aren't we just wonderful?  Their poverty concerns us and we want them to quit it.  So do they.
    Eventually, someone got around to wondering exactly how generous various classes of people actually were.  What they confirmed is interesting.  I say 'confirmed" because John Steinbeck told us decades ago when he said, " If you're in trouble, hurt or need - go to the poor people.  They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones."
    I don't know where that quote came from in Steinbeck's works but it's the kind of "out of plot" throwaway observation that typifies good literature.  Not every word has to advance a narrative but just about every word should inform.
    At any rate, it turns out the poor, by any metric we know, are the most generous among us. They apparently have more free time to read the Bible.  My dad used to say you can never grasp anything with a clenched fist.  He was certainly never wealthy but in his way, he was never poor.
    Abraham Lincoln said, " God must surely love poor people.  He created so many of them."  Perhaps God was trying to teach us about fraternal love and charity.
    I guess it's a personal familiarity with the very concept of need that enables the poor to be free with generosity within their limits.  Maybe half of essentially nothing is better than nothing at all.
    Familiarity with the very concept of need.  There's a thought.  We've built a society that can and does isolate many individuals from a moment's need.  Maybe that good thing becomes a flaw.  I don't suppose we can teach poverty to make its attendant lessons more available. Although, sometimes life itself takes care of that detail.  I've been poor.  I don't recommend it.  Some things are better learned from a book even if imperfectly learned.
    Bill Gates is credited as one of the most generous people in the world.  I doubt if he had just one, he would give you half his blanket.  On the other hand, Warren Buffet seems to be a guy who just might give you half his blanket.  It's said that as Gates' fortune grew he came under criticism for not being more active in philanthropy.  Now,  the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partners with Warren Buffet around the world.  You do have to wonder how that came as an afterthought to one of the richest people in the world.
    If you want to understand simple generosity wait for the large lottery payouts to reach into the hundreds of millions,  then go to an employee's lunchroom or a neighborhood tavern and listen to the music and magic of idle daydreams.