Helping others is American, Hawaiian tradition
Helping others is American, Hawaiian tradition
Having just read your article “Is wealth a sin?” (Tom Yamachika, Nov. 24), in The Garden Island newspaper, my gut response to it was the corollary “Is poverty a sin?” In most cases neither is a sin in the sense that the wealthy or poor person is guilty of something.
But in American tradition, the wealthy help to care for the poor. I believe the Hawaiian aloha tradition is similar. Those who have help those who do not. And, in that tradition, giving or helping is not a beast, as you named it at the end of your article, but a compassionate being.
If it is true that there is a finite amount of money (which I understand is true only when based in actual gold reserves, but becomes inflation when based on amount of paper money that can be printed), then it makes sense for someone with billions to share (voluntarily or through taxation) with those who have only hundreds or thousands.
Ruta Jordans, Kapaa
