编者按:
怀特先生的信念也成为我私生活的信条,以它为行动准则,我为人类的奉献更多。做奉献让自己心满意足,心态平和,虽然它们本不是我的天性。这就是我得到的回报,我的福祉。
的确,我相信,美国的物质主义非常需要精神力量的调剂。这种精神力量必须表现在帮助同胞、为同胞服务上。
How to Give Your Money Away
Many years ago I met a man whose unique psychology helped me to shed a life of struggle and uneasiness for great happiness, for peace of mind, and for a measure of success I otherwise would not have attained.
His name was George Robert White, a man who was orphaned and impoverished at a tender age. Yet, a man whose God-given beliefs made him both a material and a spiritual millionaire at thirty.
My path to success, and to what I had considered its natural result- happiness-was the ordinary road over which most American businessmen travel, namely, endless hours of hard work, social contacts, wise investments, headaches and heartaches.
To be sure, in a materialistic sense, I had traveled a long way from my father’s farm in Nova Scotia. I had become an executive in a multi-million dollar drug firm. But where was the resulting happiness that my material gain was supposed to have afforded me?
In my private moments of mental inventory, I discovered that I had no more peace of mind, nor was I less afraid of the problems of life and death, than many years before, when I planned my road to happiness and success by the flickering lamp in my father's tiny farmhouse. The reason was, I had neglected spiritual values in my anxiety for material gain.
It took the kindly advice of George Robert White, to open the pathway for me to happiness and freedom of mind. The important lesson Mr. White taught me is this: If we are to be happy, if we are to be successful in every aspect of the word, if we are to live truly full lives, we must share ourselves, as well as our material gain, with our fellow men.
As a young man, Mr. White took over the leadership of a small soap-manufacturing plant in Boston, and throughout his career he gave away to charity a large part of his net profits.
Yet, despite his unusual business practices, Mr. White built that tiny concern into the world-famous Cuticura Corporation, and became the multi-million-dollar manufacturer of Cuticura Soap, Ointment and Shampoo.
I shall never forget Mr. White's words: "Personal success, business success, built upon materialism alone, are empty shells concealing disappointment, saddened lives," which he epitomized by saying: "Cast your bread upon the waters and it will come back in abundance."
Since Mr. White's death, I have endeavored, as his successor, to adhere to his code of ethics. Two dollars out of every three dollars profit earned by our corporation is shared with others in helping to make our nation a better place in which to live.
We, in our corporation, believe that it is not sufficient only to manufacture as fine a product as is possible-millions of dollars over the years are being shared by our corporation for the advancement of medicine and science, for chemical research, for art and for beauty.
In my personal life I have adopted Mr. White's beliefs, and, in doing so, I have become much better equipped to serve humanity.
My reward, my blessings, have come to me in the form of personal satisfaction and peace of mind that had been substantially foreign to me.
Yes, I believe that spirituality is the needed seasoning to America's materialism. But it must be that kind of spirituality that takes the form of help and service toward our fellow men.