Costing too much
"usury n.,pl.-ries. 1.The act or practice of lending money at excessive interest rates. 2. An exorbitant or illegal [or inhumane] rate of interest." — Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary
Be especially mindful of those who care enough to loan money and do nice things for you in times of need. If you are lucky, your benefactor will not charge interest. Of course, when you are able to pay them back, it is quietly hoped that you can give them the equivalent amount that the money they loaned to you most certainly would have earned in a bank account at the going rate of interest.
Fortunate are we who have those who help, and care, in our times of need.
Unfortunately, usury is not always monetary in form. It should be noted, too, that more than a few well-intentioned lenders would be well served if they attended some classes in which they could be instructed in the worthwhile art of how not to emotionally demoralise the recipients of their compassion and kindness.
I have compiled a short list of things a well-intentioned lender ought not to do, in the hope that a potential lender might read it and as a result avoid hurting the feelings of some helpless recipient. The lender should not presume that the recipient's grateful and honest presentation of his/her humility is somehow a subtle request to be humiliated by the lender's vanity.
1. Do not constantly remind the recipient how much you have sacrificed to be able to loan the money, favour or service.
2. Do not constantly remind the recipient that you could have loaned the money, favour or service to someone else.
3. Do not constantly attack the recipient's intelligence and dignity with thinly veiled innuendoes which imply that your money, favour or service might be wasted on the recipient.
4. Do not constantly remind the recipient that you and your friends feel that you are not only wasting your time, but may not be sane in the loaning of your money, favour or service to the recipient.
I will stop with four, although there are many more I could list that those who loan and assist ought not do, but I do not think that will be necessary. Perhaps I should just leave the reader with the sage words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who shared in all recipients' painful dilemma when he wrote, "Money often costs too much".
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to answer letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, Jackson State Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233-7800, USA. Australians Against Executions is raising funds to pay for a lawyer for Brandon's resentencing trial. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 10 Palara Place, Dee Why NSW 2099. Donations to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account may also be made at any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]