Charity begins at home

The board of directors of the prominent town charity had always hoped
for a donation from the city’s most successful lawyer. So when the
charity’s new Director was hired, she thought she would impress the
Board by getting a big check out of him.
She made an appointment with the lawyer and visited him in his lavish
office. She opened the meeting by saying, “Our research shows that even
though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don’t give a
penny to charity. Wouldn’t you like to give something back to your
community through the town charity?”

The lawyer thought for a minute and said, “First, did your research also
show you that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and she
has huge medical bills that are far beyond her ability to pay?”
Embarrassed, the new Director mumbled, “Uh… no, I didn’t know that.”
“Secondly,” said the lawyer, “my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind
and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six
children.”
The stricken charity representative began to stammer an apology, but was
cut off again.
“Thirdly, did your research also show you that my sister’s husband died
in a dreadful car accident, leaving her penniless with a big mortgage
and three children, one of whom is disabled, and another has learning
disabilities requiring an array of private tutors?”
The humiliated Director, completely beaten, said, “I’m sorry, I had no
idea.”
“So,” the lawyer concluded, “If I didn’t give them any money, what the
hell makes you think I’d ever give any to you?”