It's Tuesday, November the 21st, 2023. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. I'm Chris Elkins of the

Denison Forum, narrating today's daily article written by Dr. Jim Denison. As you know, former first

lady Rosalind Carter died Sunday afternoon at the age of 96. Former President Jimmy Carter said,

Rosalind was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. A tireless advocate for mental health

services, Mrs. Carter was instrumental in passing the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 and continued

her work on this vital cause for decades after.

In 1982, she and her husband founded the Carter Center, a non-profit dedicated to a range of

issues from improving global health to monitoring democratic elections to negotiating peace agreements.

She could often be found volunteering with Habitat for

Humanity, along with her husband, in building homes for those in need. In a day when many leaders

use their public platforms for personal celebrity, Rosalind Carter used hers to serve others.

According to Gido Alfani, an economic professor at Bocconi University in Milan,

the wealthiest members of society have often in Western history been expected to use their riches

to support their societies in times of crises like plagues, famines, or wars. For example,

the Tuscan humanist Pagio Bilini, wrote in 1428 that many greedy

individuals should constitute a kind of private barn of money able to be of assistance to everybody.

Those who gave charitably were not being entirely altruistic, however. Alfani notes they wanted to allay the

unfavorable way that they were viewed by others and also saw such charity as contributing to the

benefit of their souls. Such transactional benevolence is rooted in fallen human nature. For example,

after Jesus announced his intentions to go to Jerusalem where he would

be killed and on the third day be raised, as written in Matthew 1621, Peter, in verse 22,

began to rebuke him saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Then in

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