I've always been a good natured and generous person. Growing up, there was always at least one person in my small circle of friends that was without a job, and I was the one that started what became the tradition of working to help support those of us that didnt have a job, and it always ended up being reciprocated in the end.
I honestly feel that is more how the world should work, and certainly I feel this way tenfold now - once for each of the last ten years that I have been unable to afford to keep up on my dental work.
I know that if I could just afford to move out of Michigan I could move somewhere with more work in my chosen career field, but without some sort of improvement in my ability to maintain a healthy diet and improved oral appearance, that I'm just as likely to end up where I am now again anyway. minimally employed and in constant pain. No person should ever have to endure a catch-22 that affects their life so severely as this.
It has also been my more recent inspiration to become a philanthropist myself, once I can overcome the basic financial curve of being able to fully support myself financially. I know I am not the only person out there facing this kind of adverse situation, and I personally feel that this is where the most difference can be made.
If an otherwise capable person is unable to take care of themselves well enough to rise above their handicap, whatever it may be, then this is one more person willing and able to help that the world may never see, and in promoting philanthropy itself on an interpersonal level - not just generic donations to organizations, I feel that there is potentially exponential growth in the philanthropic community to be had.
Just my own 2 cents to hopefully give a basic idea of the kind of person I strive to be.
-DT
