{"id":114,"date":"2009-08-03T10:39:54","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T10:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/08\/happy-moral-monday-this-morning.html"},"modified":"2009-08-03T10:39:54","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T10:39:54","slug":"happy-moral-monday-this-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/08\/happy-moral-monday-this-morning.html","title":{"rendered":"Moral Monday: Homeless Man Bequeaths Millions to Non-Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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). <\/p>\n

<\/font>Growing up, I would read Hindu
\nstories about shedding one’s earthly confinements to reach Moksha<\/a>, the final
\nrelease from one’s worldly conception of self. That sounds great, I would think,
\nbut what about those you leave behind? Wasn’t it ultimately <\/span>selfish to shed your responsibilities in order to achieve something
\nsolely for yourself<\/span>? <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/div>\n
That’s a complicated question <\/span>of an ancient philosophy, but for me, this is a story about a man who <\/span>shed his earthly attachments without forgetting to care
\nfor the world he left behind.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/font><\/span> <\/div>\n
Of course, since Walters was a self-professed atheist,
\nI doubt he would appreciate the religious meaning I take from his actions.
\nStill, I consider him well-worth a mention on Moral Monday.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,19,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-padmini-mangunta","category-ethics-morality","category-financial-ethics","category-parenting-responsibility"],"yoast_head":"\nMoral Monday: Homeless Man Bequeaths Millions to Non-Profits - Everyday Ethics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/08\/happy-moral-monday-this-morning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moral Monday: Homeless Man Bequeaths Millions to Non-Profits - Everyday Ethics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy Moral Monday! 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In addition to writing for a various print and online publications, such as Parenting Magazine and iVillage, she was the Website Manager for the Henry Street Settlement, a social services and arts organization serving Manhattan's Lower East Side. Most recently, she worked on the Thai-Myanmar border as a writer for the Burma Human Rights Yearbook. Her curiosity about human nature, coupled with duel streaks of idealism and Midwestern pragmatism, developed into an ongoing discussion with friends, family and strangers on ethical quandaries. When she's not asking \"Why?\" you might have trouble finding her, as her hobbies include nosing around used bookstores, exploring the world (near and far), meeting new people and occasionally twiddling her thumbs while daydreaming.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/author\/pmangunta"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}