Reader’s view: Wealth isn’t evil, but how it is used can be

You accuse me of lecturing you on the evils of being wealthy, even though I don’t think evil is an applicable word. Having wealth is not wrong or ignorant, but how it is used may be.

You think that every penny you earn is the result of your own personal talents and hard work, so you feel justifiably offended when anyone dares to tell you how to use those pennies to help others. You feel that only you should approve of how it is spent. After all, it is yours.

You insist that unless you keep every last bit of your money you cannot create jobs for other men to get pennies of their own. You may be right.

All I know is that although I am by no means a rich man, if someone asked me to tear off a corner of each dollar bill I earned, representing only 1/100th of that dollar bill (1 percent of it), I would not hesitate to do so — especially if the person I gave it to could put nutritious food on someone’s table, clothes on someone’s back or shelter over someone’s head, all with that small scrap of paper. I don’t even care whether I can choose whom to give it to, as long as that person has a hungry belly, shivers in the cold or needs comfort.

Why should a wealthy man care, either?

Peter W. Johnson

Superior

Tags: readers views, opinion, editorials, money