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Is it “Giving Back” or “Giving Even More”?

by Theresa Fritz Camoriano

It is wonderful when people donate their time and money to help their communities.  However, whenever I hear about the requirement of “giving back” to society, I want to scream.  Why?  Because the concept of “giving back” supports a lie.  “Giving back” implies that the economically successful individual has somehow unfairly or improperly taken from the little guy in order to become successful, as if the way most people get rich is by plundering others.  That simply is not true, and it promotes a misunderstanding of society that is very harmful and destructive.

In a free market, the way most people get rich is by serving others.  In order to sell a product, the seller must provide something a consumer wants and is willing to pay for, and he must do a better job at it than his competitor.  In order to be in business, the entrepreneur also must provide jobs and incomes for his employees who produce the product or service being sold.  The entrepreneur also frequently provides capital equipment and training to make his employees more productive, so they are able to earn a good living.  So, in order to have become wealthy, an entrepreneur operating in the free market must already have done a great job serving his fellow man.  He is not a plunderer and victimizer but rather a creator of wealth.  He should not feel ashamed or guilty as the phrase “giving back” implies.  Instead, he should be proud that he was clever enough and made the sacrifices and investments to do a great job serving other people.  And we should not demonize the person who brings us so many opportunities but rather should appreciate him.

If a wealthy person chooses to donate some of the profits he earned in the free market to charitable causes because it gives him pleasure, that is wonderful.  However, laying on guilt and implying that wealthy people somehow owe the rest of us something other than basic respect is simply wrong.  It paints as a bad guy the very good guy who makes all the good stuff possible.  It demonizes the hero.  This is not only very unfair, but it is a very destructive and foolish approach if we want to encourage the production of greater wealth and greater service to others.

In the future, instead of calling it “giving back” when a successful person donates time or money to his community, I propose that we begin speaking the truth by calling it “giving even more”.