I recently read a quote by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard: “A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order”. With that in mind, I want to tell you a story. I think it is about giving, but I’m not sure…..
Social Determinants:
I receive reading suggestions from my family that I call “Homework Assignments”. I try to complete these assignments, because they suggest things to me that they think will be helpful.
A few recent assignments have mentioned “Social Determinants”, either in name, or in idea. Social determinants are “the conditions where people are born, live, work, play and age, which significantly influence their health, well-being, and quality of life….These non-medical factors…create different levels of opportunity for good health, and create health inequities that are often unjust and avoidable”.
Heather asked me to read a book called “Everything is Tuberculosis” by John Green. The author notes that TB is treatable in the U.S., and is often fatal in Sierra Leonne. For some patients, “the cure and the disease are not in the same place”. In other words, where someone lives determines whether or not they survive TB.
Not long ago, I read a book “Deaths of Despair”, by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton. The authors noted that there is a 7 year difference in life expectancy between college graduates and high school graduates in the United States. The authors then examined the causes of that life expectancy difference. The root cause in life expectancy difference wasn’t because of the education. It was because of the health benefits provided by jobs with a college degree. In other words, people without healthcare benefits had a seven year difference in life expectancy from those that had healthcare benefits.
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Social determinants are things that make a big difference in our lives. I have listed a few that were noted in the books above, and then add some of my own:
1) Economic stability
2) Education
3) Healthcare benefits/access
4) Neighborhood environment
5) Social support
And five more that I see locally in my life:
6) Freedom (legal)
7) Literacy (reading)
8) Literacy (financial)
9) Sobriety
10) Transportation access
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Saving & Investing
Theresa and I are nearing the end of our work lives. Theresa retired in October, and I can stop working whenever I want to. Theresa and I have been saving for retirement since the late 1980s. Theresa worked in the retirement field (pension and 401k).
Theresa taught me that we should live below our means, save everything possible, and invest it in low cost mutual funds. “Set it and forget it”. We did, and now we have enough for retirement.
We may be able to help some people, and help with some of their Social Determinants. In other words- if someone experiences a negative life change that they did not create, can we help them? Should we try to do so? What is the greatest good here? What is the greatest need, and what can we do to create the greatest positive impact?
One of my friends (bcc’d on this) talks about sharing “Time, Talent and Treasure”.
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Making A Difference: “Arc Changing”
We have been asked to intervene on behalf of a few people, where our intervention made a difference. We learned that those people had important needs. The kind of needs that, if they weren’t met, could make a difference in the rest of their lives.
I call this “Arc Changing”. I am grateful for the opportunity to do this. When we learn that someone has life circumstances that are at risk, we may be able to make a call that restores their life circumstances.
That is a privilege. It is also a responsibility. In one of the sacred texts, it says “to those to whom much has been given, much is expected”.
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Theresa and I recently attended a workshop that discussed Charitable Giving. We discuss:
Do we give now, or wait until we have more and give later?
Do we give lump sums, or monthly/quarterly gifts?
Do we give in our area, or do we give 10,000 miles away?
Does the receiving organization spend money frugally?
We want to maximize the impact of our giving. If we became aware of an organization that can document big impact, that X dollars saved Y lives, (or treated Y cases of malaria, or Y gallons of clean drinking water, or whatever), I would be more inclined to give.
Hal
August 2026
