By Mary Anne A. Quizon
Are we hardwired to be generous?
In the mid 70’s There was this story about a man, the son of a junk dealer , who made good in business and earning millions he decided to help a group of Vietnamese immigrants build their home by giving them 50k. He felt so good after the giving incident that he decided to throw a Christmas party to 1050 children in Mineapolis, and gifted each of them with a bicycle. He always wanted a bicycle when he was a kid but never had one because they were so poor to afford a bicycle. This is the reason why he gave a bicycle as a gift to each of the kids. Anyway the kids were so happy that the children’s happiness so overwhelmed him, he decided after thinking long and hard that he wanted to give away the rest of his millions.
He then started a column in a newspaper “thanks a million!” Readers, young and old wrote him to request for help. If a person’s letter appealed to him he would send some money .
His giving continued for years . Some estimated that he has given away in the range of $30 million. He only stopped giving away confessing that he has ran out of money.
This was Percy Ross a guy everyone would like to model.
There are stories that have come down the ages relating to people’s generosity in helping people. One of this was the story of the Good Samaritan, who was seemingly supposed to be an enemy yet turned out to be a generous stranger. Another is about this poor widow who coming into church gave all she had – a little coin of so much value to her yet still gave it away.
There were stories during war times where patient nurses generously tend to the needs of enemy soldiers. In generosity it is not only the treasure that one could give that counts but the time and talent one could spare.
Another story that creates an impact on most people is this story of a very young princess Elizabeth , the daughter of Alexander II of Hungary. She was betrothed at birth to young Prince Lewis of Thuringia in Germany who was born almost at the same time as she was. At the age of four she was sent to the Counts court and brought up there by a ‘virtuous ‘lady. As his father king Alexander 11 had given her a generous allowance until she is married, the young princess having no use for her money learned the joy of giving her money away to the poor. At a very young age under the guidance of the virtuous lady she has learned to devote herself into helping the poor, oftentimes bringing bread to them anytime of the day.
As she grew in wisdom her generosity flourished . She always had the poor bread giving in her daily routine. Even after marriage to Lewis she continued her religious practices and her generosity to the poor. She would always bring bread to the poor and weave wool to make dresses for them. One time she was trying to hide the bread when someone came to question her. When she opened her skirt where the bread was hidden, she was astonished to see that roses replaced the bread !
Like Princess Elizabeth, Percy Ross and many others, it is said that generosity is ingrained in humanity. We are all innately generous yet for some their generous genes fail to activate themselves until spurred.