Role models and true stories of generosity

From 16Guidelines

Cesar Chavez

The Mexican/American farm worker, labour leader, and civil rights activist César Chávez was not in a position to demonstrate generosity through giving away money or possessions. He never earned more than 6,000 US dollars a year, didn’t own a house, and left no savings to his family when he died. Nevertheless, more than 50,000 people attended his funeral in the small town of Delano, California to celebrate a lifetime of generosity that manifested through the gift of his time, talents, and energy to improve the working conditions of ordinary people in the USA. Chávez understood that “the real wealth comes from helping others.”

As the son of migrant Mexican farm workers, Chávez watched as his parents were cheated of their land, and his fellow workers were exploited by big landowners. He spoke later about how there grew in his heart “a desire to be treated fairly, and to see my people treated as human beings and not as chattel. It grew from anger and rage, emotions I felt forty years ago when people of my color were denied the right to see a movie or eat at a restaurant in many parts of California. It grew from the frustration and humiliation I felt as a boy who couldn't understand how the growers could abuse and exploit farm workers when there were so many of us and so few of them. “ He wanted to see more generosity in the world.

Taking St Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as his inspiration, Chávez became a tireless campaigner for decent wages and working conditions. He co-founded an association which later became the United Farm Workers. He underwent month-long personal fasts to draw attention to issues such as the overuse of pesticides in US agriculture. He also became an early sponsor of Chicano art, and supported projects such as Il Teatro Campesino – The Farmworker’s Theatre.

Chávez felt that “the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.” He built his life on the principle that “in this world it is possible to achieve great material wealth, to live an opulent life. But a life built upon those things alone leaves a shallow legacy. In the end, we will be judged by other standards.”

Mahadeb Mondal

Mahadeb Mondal comes from a poor family in Chandkhali village, about 240km from Calcutta, India. At the age of eight years, he had to leave school and start earning money as a cowherd. His four labourer sons did the same. At the age of 70 years, he says “Now I am old and infirm, I regret I could not study, or afford my sons’ education. I wish I could put the clock back.” In May 2007 Mondal decided to something that will help future generations of children in his village to get a better start in life. He gifted half his land to build a new primary school. He will continue to live in a thatched hut on the other half of the land with his wife Sabitri. The land gifted by Mondal is worth about 100,000 rupees, an extraordinary sum for someone who earns 40 rupees a day.

Reproduced with thanks from The Telegraph, Calcutta, 2 June 2007