Thursday, June 29, 2006
You don't have to be filthy rich to enrich
Shanna Flowers
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Somebody cares.
In this "I-got-mine, you-get-yours" world, billionaire investor Warren Buffett's benevolence to the impoverished and uneducated was a nice beginning to the week.
Buffett's announcement that he will give away most of his fortune to improve the lives of others was a pleasant distraction from the war, the recent congressional shenanigans that have doubled for policymaking and the near-daily updates of Baby Brangelina.
"I'm not an enthusiast for dynastic wealth, particularly when six billion others have much poorer hands than we do in life," Buffett was quoted as saying Monday during an appearance in New York, explaining why he felt no urge to leave the whole kit and caboodle to his three adult children and the next several generations of his family.
The media love a good story, and Buffett's was a good one. I'm a night owl, so I caught Charlie Rose late Monday night gushing over having an "exclusive" television interview with his friend Buffett and the beneficiaries of his generous largesse, Bill and Melinda Gates.
When my friend and colleague asked what I was working on, I told her I was thinking about writing about Buffett's generosity. She half-jokingly sniffed, "Why? It's one rich guy giving money to another rich guy."
Actually, the money is going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to improving health and education, mostly in developing countries. In fact, Buffett's announcement comes two weeks after Gates, the nation's richest man followed by Buffett, announced he would step down from his daily responsibilities at his Microsoft Corp. and work with his foundation full time.
Watching Rose's show, I saw the motivation of Buffett and Gates. I saw America's two wealthiest men and good friends with a sincere desire to give back, to help others who haven't been as fortunate as they have been.
By now you know where I'm going with this.
Few of us in Southwest Virginia are billionaires. But I'm a firm believer that giving back doesn't necessarily mean dashing off a check or donating stocks and bonds.
It may be as simple as giving clothes to an agency to help it raise money for its programs or serving soup at the Rescue Mission in July, not Thanksgiving when it's in vogue to volunteer.
Your generosity may be in exposing children to different activities, enabling them to dream beyond their world, of delivering meals to a senior, helping a retiree learn to read or reading to the blind.
What I'm saying is, more of us than not have the capacity to be a Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in our own way. We don't have their billions, but we can share with them the priceless reward of helping others.
Shanna Flowers' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
