Someone I admire coined that phrase to describe his commitment to giving his time and money away. How many people laughed/scoffed at pronouncements by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that they intend to give their fortunes away? How many people who didn’t laugh instead said “that’s easy for them to do because they are billionaires?”
My friend is definitely NOT a billionaire and yet he and his wife have given a lot of their hard-earned (and sometimes very scarce) money away every year of their 35 years of marriage. How many people would laugh at that?
Some people give because they feel there’s an opportunity for their God to work through them in positive ways. Others give because they feel a moral obligation to share. Others give because they feel that philanthropy outperforms government/political options. Others give because they are angry at inequality and injustice.
I have shared before how I often find people living in ways that are not in alignment with what they would describe as their priority in life. The good part is that at least the priorities are there in the first place! What is equally encouraging is that almost everyone I work with has a desire to give something away to people they believe are not as fortunate or not as blessed. I think this is no small phenomenon and one worth more than just an “ah, that’s nice”.
So maybe it is a little funny to be challenging ourselves to give money away after/during one of the most uncertain economic times in 80 years. And maybe it’s funny to think that even small amounts can make a difference in someone’s ability to work ( www.kiva.org ). And maybe it’s funny to think that $1/day can pay for medicine and clean water and food and education ( www.worldvision.org ). And maybe forgiving the poorest nations’ debts to the world’s wealthiest is funny, too ( www.one.org ).
