You’ve likely never heard of Salo Levite, but maybe you’re fortunate enough to know someone
like him.
What Working Hard Will Get You
Salo was a Jew who escaped what he knew would one day be Nazi Germany and made his way
to the U.S. He found a job, worked hard, and saved enough money that he could bring the rest
of his family to the U.S., which he did.
With hard work and ambition he kept being successful in business, and eventually co-founded
one of the first department stores in the midwest.
This was a big deal, and Salo was a “big man,” but he never let his success get in the way of his generosity, and he didn’t define his generosity by how wealthy he was.
Read: Good Samaritans Wear Scubs
What More Money Should Let You Do More Of
For people like Salo, you always do good with what you have. Having more simply allows you
to do even more good.
So when the husband of one of Salo’s administrators got sick, he told her to take as much time
as she needed to take care of him and not to worry about her job or her salary.
After a few weeks, her husband still needed her constant care and she came to Salo with the
news that she’d have to quit to take on the role of nurse. And she did.
We Learn a Lot about People at Their Funeral
It wasn’t discovered until several decades later, actually at Salo Levite’s funeral, that he had
continued to pay that woman’s salary as long as she cared for her husband, and then beyond.
Even Salo’s wife didn’t know about it, but she was not surprised when she found out.
Salo took that long term act of doing good with him to his grave. He wasn’t doing it for
publicity or popularity or politics. He was doing it because it was good.
