HELP NEEDED

(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, MANILA BULLETIN'S WEEKEND SECTION, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2007)


If we were to go by the figures gathered by the Tokyo-based United Nations University, philanthropy, rather than an act of good will, is in fact a responsibility that falls on the shoulder of everyone blessed enough to do it.

According to a report published by the American Council for the abovementioned global think tank, “two percent of people own 50 percent of the world’s wealth while the poorest 50 percent own only one percent.” More succinctly, the report cited that “the income of the richest 225 people in the world equals that of the poorest 2.7 billion or 40 percent of the global population.”

Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. —John D. Rockefeller

At a glance, it seems rather sad, but I hope that these alarming figures will not add fuel to the anti-rich sensibilities that seem to prevail in places like Manila where the haves and the haves-not live dangerously close to each other. I grew up at a time when movies honored, even glamorized poverty. In the old movies, particularly during the height of Nora Aunor’s stardom, poor meant virtuous, honorable, good, and wise while rich meant, naturally, the opposite. Actresses like mother-and-daughter Rosemary Gil and Cherie Gil, with their aristocratic features and impeccable diction, were typecast as contravidas, scheming, selfish, greedy, cruel, evil.

In real life, however, people like the characters Cherie Gil has been typecast to play do have a heart and the superrich are busy not only making money but spreading it around as employers, suppliers, customers, and as influential leaders or members of organizations created to support a whole range of causes, from women and children in need to the arts and culture, from education to the environment.

What is most helpful, however, is the example the rich set. Many of them, after all, did start from scratch, their riches built from nothing. And just like you and me, they only needed one body, one brain, a pair of hands (and sometimes even just one hand), a pair of legs (or none at all), 24 hours a day, and everything else with which nature has blessed both the poor and the rich. The point is if they can do it, why can’t we? Of course, it’s quite easy to answer this question, especially for some of us who believe that the gods of fortune play favorites and that all rich men and women got rich because of reasons other than hard work and competence. Now if everyone could be self-sufficient and no one ever needs the help of the other, then it would be a perfect world, but it’s not, so there.

Still and all, I believe that people, rich or poor, are always willing to help where help is needed. This issue, for instance, we are devoting to the cause of spreading awareness on breast cancer, the number one killer of women, whose urgency has made modern-day heroes of women like Evelyn Lauder, Estee Lauder’s dynamo of a daughter-in-law, who has made the pink ribbon the worldwide symbol for the fight against the killer disease.

The world is not perfect, indeed, but with people like Evelyn Lauder, it is undoubtedly wonderful. It is comforting to know that all it takes to make a difference in this life is the desire to extend a helping hand, which, I still believe, is a reflex rather than a supreme act of self-sacrifice.

A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com