The government stole the pleasure of generosity

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

We tell children it is more blessed to give than to receive. Then, by the time we become adults we forget this wise saying. Why? 

Is it the credit card balances? The fancy car or truck we really don’t need? Or maybe it is that cruise we thought we should take.

Many years ago, I was sitting and talking to one of my aunts. It had to be many years ago – she died about 2005. She brought up a man that lived with my family in the early 1930s. I had never heard of him before, and he did not have our family name.  

I inquired, who was he?  

Her explanation was that he was a neighbor who had grown old, feeble and impoverished. So, my family took him in. My aunt added, “You know, people did that all the time before the government took over.”  

Believe me, my family was just this side of impoverished, too.

No, I didn’t know that and would probably not know that now if she had not told me. I have thought about this a lot. Think about the stories this old man could tell the children in the house. Think about the wisdom he could impart. Think of the joy it brought to him to have a family.

Then think today about how much we miss this interaction with our neighbors when the government just sends a check every month. Think about how such old and indigent people feel, tossed on the trash heap, their only solace a monthly check from the government. Money is a cheap way of pretending we care.

This is theft of humanity in two ways. First, are the old people who are emotionally abandoned. Then there is the pleasure of generosity stolen from the givers.

Personally, I love to give. In recent years, I have developed several ways to give anonymously. Ways where I don’t have to worry about taking a tax deduction. Oh, in our household we give those ways, too, but to me it is purer and more satisfying to ignore the tax people. If they knew what I was doing, they might want to force me to take a deduction. (I’ve outsmarted the IRS!)

What do you do when you see someone looking for a handout? Snarl and say "I pay taxes so the government can take care of you?" Did that do anything to help society? Did that do anything to tone down the rhetoric in this country? Money is cheap.

Stolen pleasures of generosity make sense here. If you start to find out you can give away a little bit with abandon, I think you will find out in a few years you will be able to give away a lot. You will learn to manage and budget better, and you will suddenly find yourself putting a bit more in your generosity pocket. Generosity is not dependent on your income; it is dependent on your attitude.

You will smile more when you are generous. We can all use more smiles.

It probably seemed like a good idea when the government started helping out the needy. Now, nearly 100 years later, it has turned into a pig trough out of control.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.

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