Generosity

via FOOTNOTES:

In 1954, during her junior year, a professor invited Burnett and some other students to perform at a black-tie party. A man and his wife approached her afterwards, as she was putting hors d'oeuvres in her purse to take home to her grandmother. Instead of reprimanding her, the man complimented Burnett's performance and asked about her future plans. When he discovered that she wanted to go try her luck with musical comedy in New York, but did not have enough money, he offered her and her boyfriend Don Saroyan each a $1000 interest-free loan on the spot. The conditions were that it was to be paid back in five years, his name was never to be revealed, and if she became a success, she would help others attain their dreams. Burnett took him up on his offer.

Turns out Harper Lee was given the gift of a year's wages by her friend Michael Brown to allow for her to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Funny to think how different the last 50 years would have been without the generosity of these two me. I am now accepting donations so I may have the time to write my memoirs, Shittin' My Life Away: High Times on the Bowl.