The Charitable foundation run by Stephen and Tabitha King, both noted authors, are trying to help raise money in Maine for the poor and elderly since Maine's federal help for poor residents to buy heating oil was slashed in half. You can read the original story here.
The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation is working with the three Bangor, Maine, radio stations the writer also owns to try to raise at least $140,000 in coming weeks.
King, a part-time resident of the region, hopes that citizens will put up half of the amount, while the other half will be a matched donation coming from the foundation, he told a local newspaper on Tuesday.
"This economy is terrible and Tabitha and I both worry so much about Bangor because it truly is a working-class town," King told the Bangor Daily News. "We are always looking for ways to help, and right now this is a great need."
Good on the Kings! These two are part of the 1% who still understand basic values of respect and helping your neighbor (which includes the likes of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Michael Moore and many more).
More thoughts after the squiggly.
What do the four persons above have in common? They did not inherit their wealth like the Koch brothers?
These are Americans who are financially in the 1%, but still have the values with which they were raised. These are not acolytes of Ayn Rand; by their actions and words, they refuse the Gospel of the Selfish (a funny way to characterize Rand's creeds, since she was atheist).
Actually, they became wealthy based on their own actions, and many people in the 1% who came from the 99% remember their roots. They remember what it is to help their neighbors, because it is a moral imperative. Helping the less fortunate, protecting the weak and loving one another is what separated human beings from Nietzsche's brutal characterization of earth- survival of the fittest.
While the rest of the Food Web is based on a succession of predators, survival and herd behaviors, human beings popped our heads above the water when we developed complex symbolic systems to communicate richly with one another. We developed morality and ethics almost whole cloth (almost, because some values, such as standing in line, are genetic- if you are down in McMurdo, Antarctica, you can join the local penguins in sledding provided you do not cut in line- make sure to bring bottles, because those same penguins know how to drink beer from cans).
Every other species on this planet is beholden to the pressures of survival; but not human beings. We can amass huge amounts of resources. We can till fields. We can grow crops. We can provide for the needs of every human being on earth if we have the will. There are millions of us who want (third world), but there are also millions of us who live like kings in the middle ages (our own bathrooms! beds with sheets! running water!).
Remember one thing when it comes to all of our policy disagreements with conservatives; we operate not on greed or selfishness, but in the same spirit that has allowed Humanity to develop Culture and Security- it is the same spirit that allowed us to make villages, cities and roads- it is the same spirit that allowed Humanity to bridge the vacuum of space and walk on the moon.
And be sure to praise those who use their wealth in the betterment of humanity. Don't let the Acolytes of Ayn Rand run the dialogue. The Objectivists are running towards Nihilism- while the Altruists are remaining true to Humanity's origin of mutual cooperation for mutual benefit.