I often have walked passed buildings in the city streets….college campuses……statues…..plaques etc and all have some kind of name associated with who the benefactor is that is attached to the infrastructure. It is great that there are people out there who donate their vast fortunes to build structures or even help medical research with their big checks. Nobody can deny the generosity of someone spending their hard earned money to help humanity. We all really benefit in the end and it is nice to see some folks of wealth do the right thing beyond build a mansion or grow their fleet of Ferrari’s. However, I have to ask….why do they need their name on the stadium…..statue……building…..or plaque? Was that done because they wanted it directly known that they were associated with the infrastructure? I can’t know that for sure, but I suspect many benefactors like to be associated with the tangible which now proudly displays their name in a pronounced fashion.

How about acting with the same level of generosity and doing it anonymously and as a family? The individual would get the very same feeling out of doing an act of kindness….or would they? I have to believe if the intentions were to be generous then identity to the donation would not be important at all.

My end point – do something nice as a family and because you want to and not because you need your name rubber stamped. It is so much cooler when it comes from the heart and not for notoriety and personal gain. You would be

shocked how many people do make generous donations and do not want their name associated to their act. They truly understand what it means to do something that comes directly from the heart. To be generous is to be truly unknown:)

Bradley D. Weisman bweisman@inthesport.net