The Jewish philosopher and scholar Maimonides has written about giving to others. He declared that no one is exempt from charity or giving. However, he also wrote that there are 8 degrees of giving. These can be seen as a ladder with eight rungs, bottom to top. Each step of giving brings one closer to heaven.
I am not certain of my feelings about heaven. I prefer to be a good person doing good deeds while on Earth, without thoughts of heaven or hell. However, whatever your beliefs, I think we’d all agree that Deepa Willingham climbs very high on this ladder of generosity.
Maimonides says that the lowest rung of the eight stages of giving begins with someone who gives reluctantly and only when asked, then is given recognition. The higher rungs of charity include giving without being asked and without receiving recognition.
I know Deepa Willingham just a bit, enough to recognize her as I stood in line at the Solvang post office on Nov. 2, the day before our national election. Deepa came in and knocked on the door of the post office station master.
“I’m here,” she declared in her no-nonsense way. “I’ve got your lunch.”
The gentleman answering the door looked confused, but then someone else appeared and said, “Oh, yes. I remember you said you’d be coming by.”
Deepa then went out to her car and brought in several chafing dishes and other food containers. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was happening.
Deepa is from India and I remember hearing from a mutual friend that she is an outstanding chef of Indian food. My husband and I love Indian food and catching a whiff of those chafing dishes, I found myself wishing I was a postal worker that day in Solvang.
On her own initiative, she had prepared a lunch for our postal workers. Apparently, the lunch was so sumptuous, there was enough for some of the workers to take leftovers home to their families.
No one had asked Deepa to do this. But, like most of us, she’d heard about the extra pressure postal employees were experiencing prior to the national election.
Because of the pandemic, more people were voting by mail than ever before in the history of America. This, in and of itself, created extraordinary volumes of extra work for postal employees.
In addition, whether because of partisan politics or mere coincidence, the U.S. Postal Service has been under great financial pressure in recent months, having been denied a multibillion-dollar economic relief package from the U.S. government. Postal workers have had to do more work on less money before and during the recent election.
Deepa felt she wanted the unsung heroes of our Postal Service to know they were appreciated for their hard work. With all of us online so much, we may take mail delivery for granted, but it is a vital service for many.
Besides voting by mail, many seniors rely on the U.S. Postal Service for receiving Social Security and other retirement checks. Not everyone can do online banking. Many people are dependent on the Postal Service to receive their medications. It is responsible for older people, as well as those with vulnerable medical conditions, to use the mail rather than make in-person trips to vote or go to the bank or pharmacy.
She recognized this and wanted, without fuss, to thank our postal workers.
Of course, this single act was not Deepa's only gift of charity. A longtime Rotary member and past president of the Santa Ynez Valley Rotary, Deepa was recently recognized by the local, district and, even, international Rotary organizations for founding and helping to sustain the PACE Learning Center in her native India.
Today, the PACE Learning Center, begun by Deepa in Piyali Junction, 25 miles southeast of Kolkata, serves some 230 girls who are from desperately poor families. The campus has grown since its humble beginnings in 2003 and provides education, vocational training and life skills to high-risk young women and, even, their families.
Deepa's enthusiasm and drive have made the school a model for programs to help Indian girls who might otherwise have had a fate involving illiteracy, child labor, and physical and mental abuse — including child trafficking.
Last week, I happened to catch Deepa in a small act of kindness to our Solvang postal workers: delivering chicken curry, coconut green beans, tomato basil soup and other Indian delicacies. Her acts of charity throughout the world bring her to a very high rung on the ladder of good deeds.
Elayne Klasson, PhD in psychology, is a writer and recent transplant to the Valley. She was formerly on the faculty at San Jose State University. Her recent novel, Love is a Rebellious Bird, was released in November 2019. Elayne can be reached at elayneklasson@gmail.com