TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden:

I would not subtract anything from the praise that is due to philanthropy, but merely demand justice for all who by their lives and works are a blessing to mankind. I do not value chiefly a man’s uprightness and benevolence, which are, as it were, his stem and leaves. Those plants of whose greenness withered we make herb tea for the sick serve but a humble use, and are most employed by quacks. I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse. His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious. This is a charity that hides a multitude of sins. The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own castoff griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion.

Charity is typically praised, for it is given without expectation and desire for compensation (This certainly is doubtful, however), while for-profit business is held in low regard — because profiting, that is, expecting a return for the work done beyond merely covering simple costs, is a part of the motivation. The achievements of the former are hailed, and their givers held in great respect, but the suggestion that the latter has made any great achievement and contribution to our advancement is likely to be met with a smirking chuckle followed by some caustic words whose wit was long ago lost, whose tone suggests a belligerent self-assuredness that only words of common wisdom can be encapsulated in. The former is praised because it is seen as sacrifice, while the latter is chastised for its “selfishness.”

I don’t find this a proper arrangement. Why should providing help to someone, without expectation of some compensation, be valued more than the beneficial results of someone working for their own reasons?

Charity certainly is important; providing aid so people can succeed again is necessary and, when the person deserves it, a great act. But ultimately, even at its finest, charity is merely the placing of a coat over a puddle, the filling in of a missing step. Charity does nothing of motivating the person to aspire to do something great — lead an upright life, write a life’s achievement, become truly excellent at one’s career, or any other admirable paths — it simply bridges the gap.

But the life of someone who has lived for their own reasons, and achieved something as a result, can provide infinite motivation for as many people as there are in the world, for all of time. Reading of the lives and acts of people thousands of years past can be just as grabbing and inspiring as it would be when they walked the earth.

It seems to me, then, that a person’s greatest contribution isn’t how much stuff they give away, but whether they live for their own reasons and morality, and succeed based on it. A person’s own triumphs are like new wood in a fire for others, inspiring the best in them.