Does it matter how a generous person makes his or her money?  What if this person made his/her money by exploiting others?  By behaving unethically in the marketplace? By illegal means?

     Although very few generous people are totally innocent in this regard, I'm thinking today of one person in particular:  Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's corporation.  I first read of Kroc's rather unethical behavior in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, and was appalled.  In watching the movie "The Founder" recently, however, I became even more so.  As the film drew to a close, the screen flashed a photo of Kroc and his second wife Joan, stating that upon the latter's passing (she outlived him by about twenty years), most of their 1.5 billion dollar fortune was donated to the Salvation Army and National Public Radio.

     By all standards, the Krocs were incredibly generous to what I consider to be worthy causes.  Yet does their generosity outweigh the rapacious and unethical way in which Kroc acquired the McDonald's name and fast food concept (for details, read Fast Food Nation or see "The Founder")?  Does it tip the scale in their favor?
     Perhaps you love McDonald's, perhaps you hate it.  Either way, these are questions worth thinking very hard about.  What do you think?