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The Inspirational Odd Couple
By Stephen J. Butler |
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Paul O'Neil, our Secretary of the Treasury, is headed to Africa for a ten-day tour with Bono, the Irish rock star. It was Bono's idea because he and his wife have spent months working in African AIDS clinics. They have a first-hand experience of unimaginable suffering. For some who might ask, "What does this have to do with retirement planning?" I will explain shortly.
O'Neill is a very interesting leader. To the extent that he personifies the awesome economic power of the United States of America, it says a great deal when he lets himself be talked into a trip to sub-Saharan Africa --- the home of some of the world's most poverty-stricken people. Certainly there are other responsibilities competing for our Secretary's time, so why would he do this? And how do we as taxpayers benefit? Well, there's something called leadership by example. Leaders who display a sense of honest compassion can strengthen the societies they represent. By comparison, those who use power to reap financial rewards and to otherwise feather their nests create an atmosphere of entitlement. I call it "the politics of selfishness." It can spread through society like a disease and wind up triggering a national Enronmentality. Today, two of our most cherished institutions, accounting and investment banking, are currently under the microscope to determine what they might require in the way of antiseptic spray.
So, here is Paul O'Neill plunging into what Joseph Conrad would have called "the heart of darkness." Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia and other countries on that continent have problems that only make us cringe when we read about them in the paper. The suffering caused by AIDS, starvation, drought, and internecine warfare killing a half million people here and another half million there just seem beyond comprehension. We can make a case for "not being into nation building" as our president said early in his administration, but the reality is summed up by my favorite, and most relaxing, ride at Disneyland --- "It's a Small World After All." O'Neill's efforts should pave the way for greater involvement (and more money) in a part of the world whose poverty offers a breeding ground for terrorism and other problems that impact the rest of the world. Those who are retired gain some of their greatest enjoyment from the contribution of time they make to charitable causes. It's a great way to stay "plugged in" and to gain the satisfaction that comes from making a difference. Those of us short of retirement should consider what social causes interest us and start looking for ways to participate. It's true that we may still be busy having to make a living and raise families, but we also have more energy and more professional contacts than we will have later in life. For a well-rounded person, charitable activities should be a habit like exercise and good hygiene. It could be my imagination, but I feel like there is a recent groundswell of interest in charitable activities. A financially substantial friend pointed out that he was getting much more satisfaction from charitable
activities than from just making more money. He said that making money just lead him to wanting to make even more. There was no end point and the novelty had long since worn off. Charitable activities, by comparison, left him feeling like his time had been much better spent. Another friend admitted that he had felt too burdened by business and family responsibilities for years and that this had been an impediment to giving up any meaningful amount of time or money. Recently, he had discovered a strange dichotomy. His personal and professional life operated more successfully when he did make the commitment to charitable activities.
My favorite recent experience is that of a father with two teenage sons who, in response to the mom and daughters going on a women's vacation, decided to spend comparable time devoted to a community activity. More conventional behavior would have had these guys heading off for a week of fly-fishing or something equally self-indulgent. As if all this wasn't enough, my 86-year-old father is having a great time reading to grammar school children in North Carolina. Let's face it. There's plenty that needs doing, and we are a wealthy society with money and time. Paul O'Neill and his unlikely friend, Bono, are setting a great example. Our Treasury Secretary coupled with a world-renowned rock star will certainly be a curiosity if not an enormous hit in that dangerous part of the world. That they are taking this trip should be an inspiration to us all.
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