OSEOLA McCarty: HER DILIGENCE, FRUGALITY AND GENEROSITY.

“Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.”— Charles Kingsley

Diligence, frugality and generosity are fine qualities that most people will like to have. And some people are fortunate enough to have the three in relative abundance; Oseola McCarty is one of those people.

In her own way, she a made a meaningful contribution to the society; then her country and global organizations honoured her for it.

Most writers were fascinated by her extreme generosity; I am as interested in her diligence and frugality, as they were in her philanthropy. As a result, I have divided my writing into segments to cover the three character strengths of this remarkable woman.

And now we will start with the one that the generous  woman  began  her journey  with ; the virtue of diligence.

DILIGENCE

“What we hope to do with ease we must learn first to do with  diligence.”—Samuel Johnson

With her single-minded devotion to work, she embodied a sense of duty that has a lot to teach the youth of today who are so used to taking things for granted and expecting everything to be easy.

In your work, think about amount of time and energy you are investing. Imagine that you started to work as a teenager and you remained devoted to your work for more than seventy years. Think that you only slept for few hours daily, and gave up all the rest of your personal time to get more work done. 

Imagine that you lived your entire life serving the needs of others with almost no time off to pursue the personal indulgencies considered by many to be necessary.

Can you imagine any real life like that? Well, that’s practically how McCarty lived. 

And that’s why I—like many other writers— am writing about her today. To teach and to learn from her story the meaning of extra-ordinary work ethic. She led a disciplined, frugal life of solitude, devoted largely to her work and she learned responsibility at an age when her mates were still considered kids.

For someone who began to work full time at the age of twelve and who continued doing the work for more than seventy years. Oseola McCarty  definitely knew the meaning of diligence and responsibility.

McCarty herself put it this way:  “I knew there were people who didn’t have to work as hard as I did, but it didn’t make me feel sad. I loved to work, and when you love to do anything, those things don’t bother you. . . Sometimes I worked straight through two or three days. I had goals I was working toward. That motivated me and I was able to push hard. . . . Work is a blessing. As long as I am living I want to be working at something. ”

Her level of work ethic is what J. C. Penny defined as intelligence; which is, doing quality work that gives dignity to your job, whether it is scrubbing a floor or running a corporation, and many of her customers appreciated her so much for that.

“Hard work gives your life meaning,” stated McCarty. “Everyone needs to work hard at something to feel good about themselves. Every job can be done well and every day has its satisfactions. . . . If you want to feel proud of yourself, you’ve got to do things you can be proud of.”

FRUGALITY

“I hold it the duty of the executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditure, and a sparing economy is itself a great national source.” Andrew Johnson

She spent almost nothing, living in her old family home so that almost every dollar could go into the bank for what was to become her greatest legacy.

Oseola McCarty had strong character and good habits. She chose to live frugally, walking almost everywhere, never buying newspaper saved every penny in the bank.

“I commenced {early} to save money. I never would take any of it out. I just put it in….Of course that requires self-control and modest appetites. My secret was contentment. I was happy with what I had,” said McCarty.

 As with persons of her type, she maintained the few things she had, never succumbing to buying more on impulse. 

If we would learn from her and take better care of the things we have, we can get better utility from them.As opposed to popular consumerism culture that is keeping us ridiculously indebted today.

Just like Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything.”

GENEROSITY

“That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”—Simone de Beauvoir

As difficult and lonely life was to Oseola, she never complained about her life. She regarded her work as a blessing, spending her free time to nurture her spirit. And as already stated she saved almost everything she earned, week by week until she retired.

And surprisingly, she decided to give almost everything away—to prevent needy youths from experiencing the hardships and struggles she went through in life.

She turned almost her entire life savings — about $150,000 —  into an irrevocable trust assigned to the University of Southern Mississippi  to provide scholarships for needy students.  

Her uncommon generosity inspired a capital fund campaign that raised an additional amount well beyond  $350,000 for Oseola McCarty Scholarships. As a result, the school presents several full-tuition scholarships in her name, year by year to help deserving students.

 Though, her act of giving brought McCarty a great deal of notoriety, including the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Wallenberg Humanitarian Award and the Avicenna Medal from UNESCO; She refused the university’s offer to name a building or create a statue in her honour.

She did not allow fame to change her, and she refused offers from those who wanted to give her a more prosperous life. “I live where I want to live and I live the way I want to live,” she said.

She and Ted Turner, founder of CNN, once shared a stage in Atlanta. Turner who had recently given a billion dollars to the United Nations, said, “I admire Oseola McCarty. She gave away her entire life savings. She did more than I did. I just gave away one third— I’ve still got about $2 billion left. She’s the one who really deserves the credit.”

Quite accurately, Charles Kingsley hit it right when he said that being forced to work will breed in us, a hundred of virtues which idle hand will never know and McCarty is a practical demonstration of that insight. 

She is now fondly remembered as one of the most generous people of her generation.