I think poverty is the inability or unwillingness to be generous to others. Several weeks ago I went with 12 other men to Benton, Kentucky with our chainsaws to work with the Mennonite Disaster Service cleaning up properties for mostly elderly people who had been affected by the recent ice storm. I was asked by a local person why we were doing this.

Why did we come all the way from Pennsylvania to help them? I responded that back home our economy is not doing well either. In fact, several of the Amish men in my group were presently out of work because the construction industry is not doing well. And their companies were not expecting a bailout so why not use the time to go give someone else a "bailout"? What better stimulus is there than to help a neighbor in need, even if they are 816 miles away? To me, seeing the joy on an elderly person's face and hearing their story about the ice storm was ample reward. And hearing 12 chainsaws in a backyard is stimulus enough for me!