Joan Ball is a business professor at St. John’s University in New York and the author of Flirting with Faith: My Spiritual Journey from Atheism to a Faith-Filled Life.
Happy Moral Monday! This morning I wanted to share a story that warmed my heart when I read about it on NPR last week — a homeless man leaving millions to several non-profits, including NPR.
When NPR’s Richard Siegel heard his station listing a funding credit in the name of Richard Walter’s estate, he was curious who this mystery man was. Naturally, he Googled him. What he found was a surprising story; Walter’s (who died two years ago) had been an engineer from AlliedSignal Corp.; an honors graduate of Purdue with a master’s degree; and a Marine. But when he retired, he gave up more than a career, he gave up all his material possessions — he became homeless. He slept on the grounds of a senior center and ate at a hospital.
Walters didn’t become an aimless, shell of a man we so often imagine homeless people to be. He was involved in investing, and paid his income taxes. He had friends — good friends such as Rita Belle, a nurse he met at a senior center and who eventually became the executer of his estate.
And at the end of this material-free life, he split his $4 million between different causes. NPR received $400,000, as did several other non-profits, including the Catholic mission in Phoenix where Rita Belle works (Belle also received a bequest).
Growing up, I would read Hindu
stories about shedding one’s earthly confinements to reach Moksha, the final
release from one’s worldly conception of self. That sounds great, I would think,
but what about those you leave behind? Wasn’t it ultimately selfish to shed your responsibilities in order to achieve something
solely for yourself?
That’s a complicated question of an ancient philosophy, but for me, this is a story about a man who shed his earthly attachments without forgetting to care
for the world he left behind.
for the world he left behind.
Of course, since Walters was a self-professed atheist,
I doubt he would appreciate the religious meaning I take from his actions.
Still, I consider him well-worth a mention on Moral Monday.
I doubt he would appreciate the religious meaning I take from his actions.
Still, I consider him well-worth a mention on Moral Monday.
posted August 3, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I read this story on NPR and I first I thought it was touching. Then I read some of the comments other readers left….most notably was one made by a man who lived in a homeless shelter for awhile. He wrote something that I didn’t even think about while reading, and that was he was burdening a charity a organization that “helped” him, when those same resources(both monetarily and in terms of the staff’s attention), could have been better directed at someone who was in real financial need. So does giving the Catholic Social Service tons of money make up for the fact he was using their services, when, in fact he had no business doing so? Is that ethical?
posted August 5, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi JJ; I read a similar comment, and I considered that…I don’t know. In my opinion, it sounds like he was sleeping on the shelter grounds and eating at the hospital. It also sounds like he kept himself occupied during the day. He became friends with some of the workers, but I don’t know if I’d consider that a burden to the staff.
It is horrible to know that there are so many people out there who don’t have a choice in their homelessness. Yet I don’t think what Walters did was unethical. He paid his taxes; and to be honest, yes, I *do* think leaving a huge sum of money to the Mission on top of paying his taxes more than compensates for the use of their services. It’s certainly more than most of us will ever do!
posted August 5, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I keep seeing this misrepresentation appear so wanted to clarify. Richard did not live at a Catholic Mission or homeless shelter. Rita was a volunteer nurse for Mission of Mercy, a nonprofit ecumenical mobile medical program (you should Google this so you can read the actual story of Richard as written by Rita on their newsletter). She met Richard at the Senior Center, where she worked out. Richard was on the grounds often and she happened to start chatting him up one day. She learned that he was sleeping at the senior center (not a homeless shelter). Soon after their friendship began and Rita sort of got Richard back into the “real world”; he got a modest apartment toward the last year of his life. Rita is Catholic and introduced Richard to her faith. He paid for all his medical care through his VA benefits. He never took anyone’s hand outs, never took up a bed at a shelter. He never used services of Mission of Mercy. He donated to the charities he did because Rita was either involved with them or he became passionate about them himself. He never donated money to Catholic Social Services. He was a remarkable, caring, selfless man.