ABSTRACT
This chapter is based in large part on news items, feature stories, and obituaries culled from the newspapers author regularly read. It is a sampling of such stories rather than a scientific survey. An all too familiar story involves a child stricken with illness or injury, the cost of whose care is far beyond the ability of his or her parents to pay. A common reaction to newspaper reports of charity balls is exasperation. What displays of extravagance and insolent unconcern they seem when –not in Palm Beach itself, but not far away –homeless people are looking for shelter, laid-off aerospace workers are despairing of ever finding well-paying jobs again, and migrant workers huddle in desolate barracks. In the sense of giving and feeling love, charity continues to show itself in ways that have nothing to do with personal advantage.
