We have recently seen some evidence of a little bit of discomfort, and maybe guilt, by some enormously wealthy people. Buffett, Gates, and several others have funded foundations to give away some of their billions. This is a way to make them feel good about themselves without necessarily providing a substantial benefit to any single person. Charities that try to help those who are suffering from a shortage of food, for example, will try to give every single hungry person a crust of bread. It makes starvation less likely but every person who was hungry is still hungry. If a million people are on the verge of starvation and some organization steps in and, with a lot of fanfare, provides huge cauldrons of soup so every one of those people gets a bowl of soup, there is a lot of handshaking and backslapping and some people feel really good about the wonderful thing they have done. Tomorrow, a million people are on the verge of starvation again, the same people who were in trouble today.

When a college football game is broadcast on television, the broadcast network proudly announces that it will make a donation to each university involved. The amount of the donation: one thousand dollars. It goes to the university’s general scholarship fund.  One thousand dollars. To be shared by all the students who are awarded a scholarship. So each student gets 50 cents or so. Whoopee.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation states clearly that it does not accept requests from individuals and will not provide funding for individuals. Are we really just members of a group? Are we totally defined by our nationality, our ethnic group, or our level of nutrition? Absolutely not. We are, every one of us, individual and unique. If you cannot extend a helping hand to one single person, then you are be charitable for your own benefit.