Giving Back Is Business Paying Forward Is Altruism

Posted August 29th, 2010 in Donations-Giving-Charity by admin

Paying forward is a notion much related to paying back, or as philanthropists such as Zalman Silber are used to putting it, giving back. The reasoning behind it (more emotional than logical though it may be, it's still a kind of reasoning) is that one gets as good as one gives. Of course, entirely altruistic motives may be present for some - but there is surely no harm in the good will generated by the good publicity generated by the donation of one's wealth towards communal edifices and institutions.

Not to single out Zalman Silber, of course; it is almost a rite of passage for a businessman to donate money. Indeed, there is no truer sign of having "made it" than being able to give large sums of cash away. But isn't it curious how much of this money ends up in the hands of religious institutions and political campaigns? Yes, yes, it's their money and they can do with it whatever they wish - but we're merely wondering aloud here, not claiming no one has a right to do with their own money anything they wish (so long as it doesn't hurt anyone).

The concept of paying it forward means to set in motion a chain of events whereby complete strangers are helped out without any likelihood of reward or recompense for the helper. Someone needs bus fare? You help him or her out. That's it. Nothing expected in return - except that he or she help someone else when they can, another stranger whom they would never meet again.

Sounds silly, no? People helping one another out for nothing at all, no fame, no public acclaim, no networking or connections made, nothing. Not simply donating to some esteemed charity and getting your name on a building somewhere, but just giving money away to complete strangers who need it with no more than the admonition to "pay it forward," for them to help others out as well.

Do businessmen do this? Or do they only help their own? Is it a great credit to a man to help out his own family, his own friends, his own people? The great thing about paying it forward is that it is completely anonymous and totally thankless from a businessman's bottom-line mentality. Money - or anything else, really - is provided, and that's all. It is about as genuine an act of altruism as possible, made towards a complete stranger whom one would not ever expect meeting again and from whom one there is no indication of any reward or thanks. Truly paying it forward is almost Christian in its altruism and, even, sacrifice, though of course many cultures have long recognized the concept as one which distinguishes true giving from mere payment.

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The Spirit Of Giving

Posted August 14th, 2010 in Money-Wealth by admin

New York is one tough town. And it prides itself on its cut-throat lifestyle, even when the number of charities blossom as nowhere else. The serial success story that is Zalman Silber is an example of the businessman-turned-philanthropist. But isn't it ironic that a place which worships material success gained by one's teeth and nails, as it were, should find itself so concerned about appearing charitable, too? As if the rich are secretly embarrassed with their fortunes - as if Balzac was right, that "behind every great fortune lies a great crime," or as if Jesus was correct, that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle...."

As if, to be blunt about it, the rich give in order to assuage their guilt.

What is it about this world that should so often find the elevated so close to the base? One can observe dichotomies existing side-by-side, many times in peace and, even, complete ignorance of one another, even in New York, even in the 21st Century.

And one wonders if such philanthropy, targeted towards one's own community, set up to benefit one's own interests, are perfectly true acts of charity or just another way in which the ego manages to further inflate itself.

Such issues, of course, likely do not concern those like Zalman Silber, who give freely as they please and couldn't care less about such quibbles. Indeed, it is safe to say that for those who do have the funds to give, giving is a pleasure in itself - akin to any other form of spending money.

Now that's not as cynical as it may sound at first. For spending money is a form of experiencing one's own power, one's own ability to produce satisfaction and pleasure. It may well lead to egotism, and it often does, to be sure - but at its root is a simple human joy at being able to affect one's surroundings, one's world. It is the same joy that accompanies a child who can crawl, then walk, then run, then ride a bicycle, then drive a car, then pilot a boat or helicopter or airplane. The proper spending of money can be life-enhancing in a very deep way, far more so than the mere accumulation of creature comforts. The proper spending of money - as in charitable donations - allows one to give of oneself, in a sense, a very important sense. For money is power, and in cases of honest work to give money is to have given of one's time and one's very life - the time spent earning the money, the life devoted to productive work.

And such is, as the humanist Erich Fromm had noted in his many works on human psychology and human society, the most demeaning aspect of poverty, that one cannot give of oneself. For it is not he who has much, but he who gives much, that is rich - and yet, to give requires one to first have! And it is the tragedy of the poor that they can barely provide for themselves, never mind share with others - though, ironically, survey after survey has concluded that the less money one has, the greater a percentage of one's income tends to be given away in charity. It is as if the poor know something which escapes the rich. It is as if the New York of lights and smiles is unaware of something so basic that it can only be known to those whose lives involve the basics and no luxuries.

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