“In many cases there are people who have known dire economic straits, yet their trust has enabled them to step outside their grim conditions and to find joy in life, so they run against the grain. The fact that they downscale, suggests that though they are burdened by economic problems, they are not overcome by them. They are more forgiving, more grateful and more likely to be unprejudiced, as well as twice as likely to be involved in outreach to neighbors, as persons at the lower end of the spiritual commitment scale. In other studies we have done, such as financial giving, we found that the poor give a larger proportion of their income to charity than the rich. Being surrounded by misery, they see opportunities to help on every side. The rich, especially now, have a tendency to cordon themselves off and therefore don’t see much of the grimness of life.”
George Gallup, Jr. in The Saints Among Us as quoted in an interview in America (October 26, 1996) 20.