I was published in the September 2006 issue of Liberty Magazine with a reflection titled “Oil and Wine.”

Warren Buffett’s enormous gift to the Gates Foundation reminds me of a pregnant woman who lived in the corner of a market near my home in Delhi. Although I contacted several charitable institutions and offered to pay for her care, none was willing to help her directly.

Her experience illustrates how large charitable institutions and social programs can become detached from the people they supposedly serve. What she needed was the simple oil and wine of the biblical story—and a compassionate society—not billions of dollars administered through distant institutions.

The reflection appears on page 19 of the print issue.

Read “Oil and Wine” in the September 2006 issue of Liberty Magazine (PDF) →