But with street dwellers you can't give them fishing rods as they won't or can't fish. As Aucklanders well know, Queen Street has become quite the place for beggars. It still doesn't feel like New Zealand to me. I have no recall of any person in my childhood years begging, and the mentally unwell back then were committed to psychiatric hospitals.
If you had poor neighbours, which almost invariably went hand-in-hand with heavy drinker neighbours, they'd pop over to "borrow a cup of sugar and some flour, please". We had people in our street who won the equivalent of today's Lotto and almost to the day, a year later, the wife knocked on my dad's door asking for money. They'd pissed the lot up.
The tragedy went further than that: the husband got killed walking middle of the road, drunk, one dark night by a vehicle. His wife died quite young not much later. They weren't beggars so much as boozers who'd never been taught any life skills. I knew a lot of those.
Of course, "you give more to people by listening than you do talking." I forget who came up with that piece of wisdom. You give no-one anything when you boast about your own accomplishments or good luck. That's one I try to live by - or at least not be the bore talking about myself (not like some people of whom we all know a few).
One year one of my wife's nieces, a delightful, zany person, instead of giving family members a Christmas present, donated $1000 to a charity. It was a magnificent gesture as she didn't have much money. I guess that's what Christmas means to us non-believers: a little bit of generosity never hurt anyone, as long as it's not to buy a drunk another drink or cigarette. (They're bloody expensive, for goodness sake!)
I note the socialists stay quiet on acknowledging the philanthropic efforts of people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerburg and countless other American billionaires. Thank you, guys. Yes, you were ruthless, but you made of your business life in the same big way you have as givers.
I've not met many socialists with a genuine philanthropic outlook. It seems they know how to spend your money, just never their own.
Remember the Frenchman, Dominique Straus-Kahn, the socialist tipped to be the next French President till his inordinate sexual appetite got exposed while he was head of the International Monetary Fund? His smug, conceited face is engraved in my mind, both before and after his fall from grace. His sexual exploits left a bit to be desired, but for me it was amazing that he, as a self-proclaimed, card-carrying socialist, was staying in a $US3000 a night suite in Washington when his world imploded.
A socialist shouldn't be staying in such digs on principle alone, especially when someone else is paying for it. I reckon a little less spent on self, and more on others is the better Christmas spirit. Maybe that's a New Year resolution.
• This column was amended on December 28 to reflect the fact that the author was referring only to some members of the Gypsy community in his criticism. Alan Duff is happy to acknowledge that he did not intend his criticism to refer to the entire community.
