The Generosity Crisis

CHAPTER 1What Would Happen if Everyone Stopped Giving?

Kelley woke up soaked. Nine months pregnant, her water broke at dawn. In seconds, her husband gathers their stuff, and they rush out the door. They arrive at the hospital to receive the shock of their lives. The doors are locked. A sign reads: “Closed until further notice.”

Across town, Cameron goes to his mailbox excited to receive grant approval to study the effects of dwindling coral reefs. Three years into his Ph.D. program, Cameron has poured his heart into composing a research grant submission to net $5 million. He even put off proposing to his girlfriend so he can relocate to Australia to work on reversing the reefs’ rapid decay. To Cameron's dismay, he receives a rejection letter from his university informing him all future research is being halted.

At a nearby zoo, Maria sheds tears, but not for the job she just lost. She cries because she knows what will happen when her employer closes. Once a sanctuary for endangered species, the zoo will have to sell its animals to the highest bidder.

At this same moment, lifelong curator Pierre slumps deeper into his swivel chair. Watching footage from CCTV cameras all over the building, he sees priceless works of art carted off for auction. In weeks, Impressionist works, some hundreds of years old, will be bought by private collectors. He sighs, recalling a line from the Indiana Jones movies, “It belongs in a museum!”

Down the street, a sad pastor tells a family of three ...