5 ideas
Generosity, honesty and dignity turn up as often among the poor, rural and uneducated as among the rich, and greed and hypocrisy as often among the prosperous and educated. Wealth and education change how selfishness looks, making it more polished and better rationalised, but they do not reduce it.
She uses such episodes to show that a philanthropist's compassion attracts skilled manipulators. The gatekeeper therefore has to verify claims, or money meant for the genuinely needy goes to whoever tells the best story.
Effective charity has two steps: investigate need on the ground by visiting, cross-checking and talking to neighbours, and then give without condescension once the need is confirmed. Skipping verification rewards deception. Giving grudgingly after verification humiliates the recipient and wastes the goodwill the gift could build.
To judge someone, watch how they behave toward people who can do nothing for them: servants, beggars, elderly parents, strangers on a train. Courtesy toward equals and superiors is strategic. Conduct toward the powerless is the unperformed version of a person's values.
As families gain money and mobility, obligations to aging parents and home communities are often converted into cash transfers or dropped altogether. Paid care and absence replace presence. Material success thus tends to thin out the informal support networks that once protected the old and weak.