Kindness

The calculus of altruism is bewildering. A forty million dollar lottery winner at forty two, he left his job as an insurance adjustor and began a mad quest to give away ninety percent of his take after taxes, a sum that came out to somewhere around eighteen million. Like any good quest, there were rules to follow. A work in progress, the rules were more like guidelines. Here are the ones he held so far:

1. Demand no recompense. That's not to say that he wouldn't accept any measure of thanks the recipient chose to return to him - he learned quickly that gratitude can help the donee to deal with the unexpected provision. He would not turn thanks away, but it would not be expected or sought or implied.
2. Gifts would be personal. He did not want to write checks to large charitable organizations. He wanted to help real, tangible people, not an anonymous target group.
3. Aid in the form of currency (cash or check) would be given only as a last resort. Instead, he would buy or build whatever the recipient needed. Some accused him of being selfish on this point, telling him that he was saying that he knew better than the people he was helping, that the people would rather decide for themselves what they needed. He disagreed with these people and as far as he was concerned, it was his money and his generosity and he could distribute it as he saw fit.
4. He would find people to help. He would not wait for people to come to him - not that he had to. The minute the news got out, his phone was ringing off the hook with long lost relatives and friends, not to mention the non-profits and the alumni associations.

He has been helping people under these guidelines for seven years. It has taught him one thing: the calculus of altruism is bewildering - confusing and full of complications. He learned how quickly gratitude can morph into greed - how some people bite the hand that feeds them so they can steal the rings off the fingers. He has made as many enemies as friends.