Sunday, Feb. 4, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Readers accept the challenge
By Mary Jane Holt Late in December I issued a challenge to my readers. I asked you to tell me what you would do for 365 days in 2005 from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 if you had unlimited funds at your disposal. The rules were: 1. On Dec. 31, 2005, there will be no more money. Your financial status will return to what it was on Dec. 31, 2004. You will have to live, from that day forth, with what you did or did not do with all the resources that were at your disposal for your one year. 2. On Jan. 1, 2005, you must choose to spend the money on either yourself or others. Throughout the year you must honor the decision you make on day one. You cannot spend any of the money on both yourself and others. You must choose. 3. If you choose to spend the money on others, then all your efforts, gifts, activities while using the money for the benefit of others must be done anonymously. You cannot tell anyone that you are the source. Nobody can know where their good fortune is coming from. I promised the individual submitting the fantasy response that I find most impressive and thought-provoking a free copy of my latest book: You Are Somebody and I am, too! Almost everybody chose to spend the money on others. Even those who chose to spend it on themselves seemed to have unselfish motives behind their decisions. Thank you all for responding! Two readers will receive the book because I could not choose between them. VT of Camilla, Georgia wrote: There are so many needs, so many cares that need to be filled, that it is difficult to know where to start. I am involved with the local Boys-Girls Club and know the needs of organizations such as these. I would certainly include the Boys-Girls Clubs in my giving. Of course, I would support my church and other churches that do great work with children and teenagers. I would like to support blood banks, food banks, Salvation Army and other organizations that help my dollars go farther. I would certainly support missionaries here in the states and around the world. I would support rural hospitals in their work to provide health care to many indigent persons. The catastrophic floods of the Indian Ocean have broken our hearts and stretched our understanding of the definition of disaster. Medical needs, spiritual needs, physical needs, food, water, a place to simply lay down to rest are certainly needs that would be addressed by any funds that would be at my disposal. If these funds could be used to reunite lost family members, I would spend the funds until all had been reunited. What happens on 1-1-06? After the money goes away, the needs and wants return. Perhaps we need to incorporate the fishing story to all of our attempts to alleviate needs. Not only should we be giving people fish to eat, which satisfies for a short time, we need to be teaching them to fish for themselves, so they may be able to support themselves. I would use these unlimited funds to help eliminate the urgent and pressing needs of our city, state, nation and world, but at the same time, use these funds to teach our needy how to support themselves. I know it will not work for all involved, but it would be a good start. I believe that there would be many to take advantage of these lessons of survival. The needy would be aware that they had been loved, giving them hope, hope for a better life. I believe that need of hope is ingrained in all of us. We need to feel loved and then we can in turn love others. That is the ripple of life that Jesus talked about when he said to love thy neighbor as thyself. If we do love as He loved, the ripples of our examples will far outlive us. TRB of Sharpsburg wrote: Without a doubt, I should spend the money on others. The hero of the movie A Beautiful Mind proved mathematically that what is good for the group is also good for the individual. First I should take care of hunger and education in third-world countries. Then establish electrical power all over the world to open up markets for American manufactured goods. Enron tried to do that, but they forgot: in the real world, companies have to make a profit. Doing good for others is its own reward. Its really fun to see people you made happy and they have no idea you did it. Watch your mail, guys, the books are on the way! Tell me what you think at www.maryjaneholt.com.
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