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Monday, September 17, 2018

Paved with Good Intentions


                                    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.