Nonetheless, both books focus on people who are not happy with the status quo lasses faire world in which individual identity is measured by wealth, achievement and status-not by what one can give to others.
In this unfair world, people need to look out for each other. This is where readership of both books can (and do) merge, i.e. in a general dissatisfaction in the status quo. Both readerships can also unite in seeking solutions to the mess of lasses faire capitalism as we now face a very great mess in our current generation.
Finally, two criticisms need to be leveled at Blanchard's and Cathy's work. The first has to do with the perpetuation of the New Yorker as a money grubbing status-seeking atheist and the Midwesterner as the hard-as-a-rock family faithful Bible thumper. This was a very shallow thing to put in the novelette. It unnecessarily entangled and unwanted myth or ideaology in an otherwise illustrative parable.
Secondly, FACTOR seems a bit superficial in its concern with the poor or poorer off. The poor are only just stock characters with no depth.
Finally, I wonder if a poor person who never will likely never become rich could every benefit much from the gist of a work that seems so far fetched from them. In a way, Blanchard and Cathy's characters seem very much to have just walked out of a set of Horatio Algiers novel.
Nonetheless, with its almost total focus on generosity and its lack of stress on free market achievement makes THE GENEROSITY FACTOR a positive and highly recommended fable for all (not just for Christians) because positive change is good for us all and that book provides an avenue for individual self-reflection and growth.
For those readers, who really want to dig into what is happening in status quo Kansas (America), definitely get to know the state's history and read Frank Thomas' analysis.
In this unfair world, people need to look out for each other. This is where readership of both books can (and do) merge, i.e. in a general dissatisfaction in the status quo. Both readerships can also unite in seeking solutions to the mess of lasses faire capitalism as we now face a very great mess in our current generation.
Finally, two criticisms need to be leveled at Blanchard's and Cathy's work. The first has to do with the perpetuation of the New Yorker as a money grubbing status-seeking atheist and the Midwesterner as the hard-as-a-rock family faithful Bible thumper. This was a very shallow thing to put in the novelette. It unnecessarily entangled and unwanted myth or ideaology in an otherwise illustrative parable.
Secondly, FACTOR seems a bit superficial in its concern with the poor or poorer off. The poor are only just stock characters with no depth.
Nonetheless, with its almost total focus on generosity and its lack of stress on free market achievement makes THE GENEROSITY FACTOR a positive and highly recommended fable for all (not just for Christians) because positive change is good for us all and that book provides an avenue for individual self-reflection and growth.
For those readers, who really want to dig into what is happening in status quo Kansas (America), definitely get to know the state's history and read Frank Thomas' analysis.
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