(417 words) All people want to seem better than they really are, so many of us try to impress with our generosity. However, often it turns out to be true only in words, but in fact disappears with a good impression. How to recognize a truly generous person? What are you doing? I think the answer to this question should be looked for in Russian literature.
For example, in the story of A.P. Chekhov, “A House with a Mezzanine,” the heroine spends her whole life in a kind of work. She does what helps the people: organizes schools and hospitals, fights for the rights of the oppressed layers of society, preaches high moral standards among wealthy and noble neighbors. Lydia is a principled girl, she restores social justice, showing her by example. A noblewoman takes a job at school and provides for herself. Her actions really make a good impression, the heroine seems a magnanimous and strong woman. But behind the abstract ideals and the bustle of ceaseless activity hides the cruel and vengeful nature of Lydia. Upon learning that the artist offered her younger sister a hand and a heart, she forbade her mother and Zhenya herself to agree to the proposal. On her initiative, the mother and youngest daughter left the estate, and the narrator was left with nothing, being refused. So, the defender of the poor ruined the life of her own sister, destroyed the love of two young people, obeying her own whim. Thus, magnanimity is not indicated by what a person flaunts, but how he acts away from spectators and judges.
Another example was described by A. Platonov in the work "Yushka". The hero was ridiculed and offended for years, no one respected him, because his fellow citizens considered him a jerk. Everyone thought that his isolation and thriftiness were the result of a secret vice, or of the property of the soul of a “small fry”, which needed nothing from life. However, after the tragic death of a man, it became known that he had paid for the education and accommodation of the unfortunate orphan all this time, and went to her in the summer to visit a lonely girl. This child grew up and came to his benefactor, but that was no longer there. The heroine received the profession of a doctor and remained in the city of her adoptive father to help people in memory of him. Yushka sacrificed everything that he had to help the orphan, but did not tell anyone about it, not wanting praise. It was enough for him to realize that he was doing everything right. In this act, I see true generosity, because it was done for good purposes, and not in order to be considered a benefactor.
Thus, generosity is manifested in deeds that are done for the good of people, and not for their attention. We may never know about him, for a magnanimous person will not boast of his nobility, unlike someone who only wants to seem kind and merciful. True virtue is always distinguished by modesty.
