Paved with Good Intentions
By Albert B. Kelly
Reading the news coverage about the missing $400k raised as
part of a recent GoFundMe campaign started by couple Kate McClure and Mark
D’Amico to help homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt, who gave the couple his last
$20 when their car ran out of gas in Philly last November, brings to mind the
old sentiment that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. I say that
because whatever may have happened here, my guess is that things likely started
from a place of good intentions and genuine good will.
It is not hard to imagine. Leaving aside the particulars of
this situation, picture yourself stranded on the side of the road, perhaps far
from home in a strange place maybe in a sketchy part of town feeling a little
scared. Out of the shadows steps a fellow who clearly has fallen on hard times.
After a brief exchange where you share your dilemma, this fellow hands you what
little he has so you can get help. Deeply moved by this extraordinary act of
kindness, it is not hard to imagine wanting to do something gracious to try and
repay that kindness.
When all is said and done in this case, we might just end up
with a trail of facts like how much money was raised and where the money went,
but we’ll likely never know the precise moment when things changed from helping
a guy that has fallen on hard times to apparently helping themselves to what
turned out to be an extraordinarily large amount of money.
There are several things that caught my attention reading about
the situation involving McClure, D’Amico, and Bobbitt. The first thing that
came to mind is that Americans can be unbelievably generous. This was typified
by Johnny Bobbitt who gave what little he had to help someone in need. But this
was also apparent from the thousands of people who donated to the GoFundMe
campaign that was initiated to help Mr. Bobbitt get back on his feet.
The second thing that struck me was the power of social
media and platforms. Not all that long ago, it would have been very difficult
to mobilize the type of response that took place in this situation both in
terms of exposure to a wide audience, but also in terms of seamlessly
coordinating the raising of funds that occurred on behalf of Mr. Bobbitt.
Perhaps the biggest shock was the amount of money raised and maybe it was here
that things sort of went off the tracks.
They say that money is the root of all sorts of evil and the
larger the sum, perhaps the larger the evil. I seriously doubt anyone involved
thought that the campaign would raise $400k and to most people, that is an
eye-popping number. If there was a process- as opposed to a moment- when the
motivation changed from helping a guy who was down on his luck to helping
themselves, maybe it was when the donations started moving north of six
figures.
Such changes often happen in the name of helping the poor or
the homeless or the orphaned or the addicted. It’s not hard to imagine that
with this kind of money at stake, in the eyes of McClure and D’Amico, Mr. Bobbitt
goes from being a selfless veteran who gave his last $20 to help a stranded
couple get gas, to a homeless drug addict who can’t be trusted with money-
certainly not that amount of money. With those on the margins it’s easy to use
their mistakes, struggles, and hard luck against them because it’s easy to
question their credibility and easier still to assume that they’ll remain
silent, unable to speak up for themselves.
While the facts of what happened in this situation are still
being determined, I think the larger point to be made is that those on the
margins and without a voice need to be protected from those who would exploit
or take advantage of them whether individually or as a group. We have laws to protect
us, but it’s far more ennobling when protection comes from people of genuine
good focused on doing the right thing.
As with other situations these days, we may never know when
motivations changed or exactly why. Maybe it was the money just sitting there
calling to them or the seemingly easy access, an on-ramp to the road…the one paved
with good intentions.