Jay has questioned my motives for revealing publically a work of charity performed by myself and one of my business partners, Rick. To recap, we donated about 7000 man x hours total of our spare time to the Park Service, US Department of the Interior over a 7 year interval of time. We basically preserved the entire collection of deteriorating Edison Lateral Cut Test Pressings by cleaning each item and then transferring each to Digital Audio Tape. Thus, these recordings, despite the fact that the chemical degradation of the records will continue, have been frozen in time so long as someone makes digital copies of the masters every so often (they will be perfect copies of the original masters since they are in the digital domain, having no generational loss).
Now, here is the point. We could have told no one that we did this work - - - just between Rick, Myself, The Park Service and G-d. However, I have learned through the study of the Talmud that it is important to let others know of your good works of charity. Why, you might ask. The answer is simply that by sharing with others the fact that you have given of yourself to society or other individuals, you serve as an inspiration for others to perform similar charitable work. Thus, your own charitable works are leveraged or multiplied by the fact that others will be inspired to do similar deeds. This is something that I learned a few years back while studying Talmud with a small group of people at our Shul.
I thought that some of you might appreciate that sort of thinking. Check with your Rabbi, Priest or Minister and see what they have to say about it. I am confident that they will concur with this analysis.
And, by the way, the one who benefits the most from the provision of charity is the charity giver - - - the knowledge that one has done something for the good of others without asking for anything in return is a reward in and of itself beyond words to describe. I am sure that most folks do that, but for those that do not, I highly recommend it.
