Every year, the Widow's Mite at work all over again.

[gardnerhill]

Every December at work, I take up a collection from my co-workers to make small cash gifts to our support staff (the folks who empty our trash, clean our bathrooms, replace our light fixtures, provide Dumpsters for office cleanings, etc.). I say this not to toot my horn but to illustrate a point of human nature as true as when Jesus commented on it

Comments

[eglantine_br]

Yes-- I think this is true, not always, but often. It is a failure to imagine another person's life and troubles. Perhaps the govt cheese is a help with that. It was good....

[gardnerhill]

That's always been my feeling about libertarians - young white males who seem physically incapable of imagining what life is like for people whose definition of going without" does NOT mean "waiting 2 whole days to buy the new iPhone."

[dreamflower02]

Many of the most generous folks I know don't have a lot to spend. I often see customers who are having to count every penny on their own purchase help someone out who is a little short of funds themselves. And our workers are paid minimum wage, yet I've known of more than one occasion when an employee has pulled out her time card to pay for a meal for a homeless person. Not too long ago my husband and I were at a Sonic, and he saw a couple in a car next to us apparently counting their change before ordering--when he gave our order, he told them to charge us for their food as well. It's not the first and it won't be the last time he does something like that.

The Bragging Guys probably are broke--of CASH! Dollars to donuts all those doohickuses they brag about are on plastic and they will end up paying twice what they are worth by the time they get through paying for them.

[gardnerhill]

Yeah, I believe the broke part. My theory is that these dudes have thousands of dollars' worth of must-have toys now gathering dust in the garage, worth zero - even as they eagerly acquire thousands of dollars' more of soon-to-be-obsolete toys. (Diamond Jim once complained about how much it cost to raise his one kid - and a year or so later, he had another kid.) It's like they have no short-term memory.

Poor people know what it's like to be even poorer. A woman I know is approaching poverty level - and she still collects hotel toiletries to distribute at a battered woman's shelter.