Charitable giving is one of the things that makes us human. If we didn't have the capability for altruism--the ability to do things for others out of sheer, simple concern for them--we wouldn't have survived this long as a species, or, most likely, had half as much fun doing so. Helping our friends and neighbors, even our enemies, is one of the marks of civilization.
And yet--even the process of "giving something back" has its pitfalls. People can game the system, pretending to help others while in fact just inconveniencing or even interfering with them. At worst, this sort of faux-charity can have disastrous consequences. Anyone who saw the movie (or read the book) The Constant Gardner, for example, learned about a very real problem that non-government medical aid organizations working in the developing world sometimes face. Of course, thankfully, most charities don't face such extreme problems - and generally, humanity's good will shines through to make a positive impact.
After all, people really do want to do good for others, whether through small gestures or through large undertakings. Some donate their time tirelessly, while others are able to find creative ways of giving. One thing for sure, it is always encouraging and enlightening to learn of ways in which others are using time and resources to make a positive contribution.
In 2008, a Michigan police department found itself in possession of a large number of cheap, worthless cigar "pawns"--the knockoff five- and ten-cent cigars, almost unsmokeable in their weak construction, and foul in their taste--that are often used to pad out truly too-good-to-be-true "premium cigar samplers". (These cheapo samplers will often have a few good-to-great cigars surrounded by generic-tasting pawns.) Cigar pawns, not surprisingly, also play a large role in the underground economy of the United States, where cigars and cigarettes are often sold without the requisite licenses, taxes or ID checks. Shady operators in many industries generally like to deal with knockoff merchandise-- and cigars are no exception.
So police departments often find themselves in possession of large numbers of these junk cigars, which they seize in their efforts to put an end to such bootlegging. In a moment of well-intentioned generosity, the head of one such police department, in Michigan in 2008, decided to donate these cigars to a good cause: he announced that they would be sent to United States troops serving overseas, especially in Iraq.
Not a bad idea, on its surface. Many United States soldiers smoke, and many non-smokers like the occasional cigar (their stronger and richer taste makes them a more interesting aesthetic experience for people who would never consider touching a cigarette). But given the choice between a cigar pawn and no cigar at all, many true cigar lovers would choose the latter. But this story has a happy ending. Many cigar stores and publications already have cigars-for-troops programs in place--and these programs were very active in 2008. And one more online cigar store, which had launched only during the same year, was inspired by the police chief's good intentions to replace the knock-offs with real premium quality cigars. The end result was thousands of premium cigars donated to US troops - and an enlightening story about how we can all work together and use our resources to make an impact.
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