Doing Well vs. Doing Good

Donald Trump has been doing well all his life. But Agnes Bojaxhiu spent her life doing good.

Born in Skopje, Macedonia in 1910, Agnes was 21 when she began teaching school in a bad part of town. Looking outside her door each day, Agnes saw such pain and despair that it jarred her sensibilities. At 38, she walked out that door and began doing what she could to help, a task that bought the rest of her life. Agnes died at the age of 87 and some people believe the world is a better place today because she lived.

Agnes Bojaxhiu made a positive difference in the lives of others. I wonder if the same will be said of the Donald?

How about you? Are you spending your life only in the pursuit of doing well, or are you trying to do some good?

In 1979, when asked about her Nobel Prize, Agnes said, "I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."

I admire Agnes because she was willing to pay the price for her beliefs, a rare trait in these shallow days.

Some people enjoy great wealth because they're clever. I do not admire them. Right or wrong, my respect for a person's accomplishments is usually tied to what that person has endured. I'm not a Catholic, but I admire Agnes Bojaxhiu, also known as Mother Teresa. I'm not Hindu or even a pacifist, but I admire Gandhi. Heck, I don't even know what Nelson Mandela did or said or believed that got him thrown into prison for so many years, I just know that he was willing to go. And for that, I admire him. A carpenter from Nazareth once said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (And I like to believe he added, "I'm going to go do that now. I'll be right back.")

I speak to you now as your friend, assuming that you consider me so. What I'm about to say has nothing to do with your achieving wealth or recognition and I'm certainly not trying to be sarcastic or flip and maybe I'm not even talking to you, but to the other 99 percent who read this. But all that being said; Isn't it time you got off your butt and did something with your life?

Talk is cheap. Go do something.

Roy H. Williams