In the current economy, amid budget cuts, downsizing and outsourcing, we would be remiss if we did not pause to congratulate Harper Johnson and Bob Hardeman for their collective contributions of $1.6 million to Pillow Academy’s John Lucas IV Teaching for Excellence Fund. While the size of the gift is definitely noteworthy, it is the lesson in giving that merits our attention.
It would have been easy to justify not giving. After all, the recession touches all of us — regardless of our race, creed, color, gender or faith. Johnson and Hardeman could have easily avoided the fray of public opinion by keeping their money to themselves. After all, if others are not aware of what you’re doing, they don’t enjoy the privilege of telling why you should or should not have done it or the pleasure of being judgmental, accusatory and downright spiteful. But these two benefactors didn’t allow the distractions of the economy and other folks’ opinions to deter them. They courageously decided to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. That courage should be our focus.
I don’t care how much money you have — in your pocket or in the bank - giving that money away is not something that is easy in the “right now.” Ask any community agency that relies on charitable contributions and donations. It is even more difficult when you measure the value of what you have to give against a gift of hundreds of thousands of dollars. That $10 or $25 or $50 seems like a mere “drop in the bucket,” so small in the grand scheme of things. This is where we all need to take a second look at sincere, genuine giving.
Hundreds of thousands contributed $5, $10 $20. Together, they made history in American politics. The Obama “doctrine” taught us never to underestimate the collective power of small gifts.
Although large donations could seem intimidating to those of us who want to give (particularly those of us who don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to give), they shouldn’t. Instead, they should inspire us to take what we have and to make a positive difference, knowing and believing that every positive difference counts.
Despite attempts to “class-ify” and “color-ize” what these gentlemen did, no class of people and no ethnic group has a monopoly on giving. Giving is something that all of us can do, and giving to education - at every level - is something that every one of us is obligated to do. Despite their challenges and imperfections, our schools, colleges and universities have empowered each of us in ways that are priceless. For that, we ought to eagerly embrace the responsibility of giving back, the responsibility of paving the way for others over a road that might have been rocky for us - not for accolades or free tickets to ballgames or VIP seating, but rather simply because it is the right thing to do.
As a community of believers, I think we owe these two gentlemen a great deal of gratitude. Personally, I want to say to them, “Thank you for your investment in the future and for reminding us all that, no matter what, there comes a time when you have to ‘put up’ or ‘shut up.’”
- Troy Brown Sr. is a contractor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He lives in Greenwood.
