Feeding The Addiction?

My mom provided me with many important lessons growing up, some of them not even deliberate. The one that comes to mind today is that she has an integrity were honesty is concerned, that I very much respect. She was the President of our family business for many years, and I had heard that she was a panelist for a business seminar. At this seminar she was also with a very successful entrepreneur, who explained the secret to his success was that he borrowed the entire start-up capital for his company from credit cards. His theory being that even if his business were not a success, he could go bankrupt and not have lost anything. My mother apparently called him a thief in public. She said that he would in a sense be stealing that money from the banks that issued the cards, if he were to fail. This was likely a shock coming from her, but that lesson has stuck with me. Now we all have seen that the banks have not been so terribly honest with us, and that in a post Lehman, Bear and Madoff world, perhaps my mothers honesty was not reciprocated by the more powerful banks. Still the ethic is that just because they are not honest, does not mean that we should not be.

This all comes to mind today, as I send in my tax check. I spoke to my mom yesterday, and she is sending in hers today as well. We don’t hesitate to do this, because it is what is honest, and it is lawful, but it is not easy, knowing that so much of the money is going to those banks.

This has made me think of a much smaller, daily contribution I make, often with the same sense of duty, but reluctance. Each morning there is a homeless man outside the coffee shop I go to. He is a nice man, and clearly suffering. The other thing that is obvious, and also, has been told to me, is that he is a major heroin addict. I give him a few dollars every morning, knowing that most of it will go to heroin. Still my hope is that every once and a while he will buy a sandwich, which I am sure he will, as he is still alive. So this is my duty, even though he is a self abusive addict.

This is much the same with taxes. While much of the money goes to bailouts, and wars, there is that amount that goes to feed the poor, provide health insurance for the poor, provide disaster relief and a number of other extremely ethical and valuable “sandwiches” for the suffering. Suddenly this duty feels not so frustrating. The hope that has come with the Obama presidency must have really worked for me. I am actually happy to put my check in the mail, believing that it will do some good, and not just feed the nation’s addiction