It would be so easy to jab at wealthy Americans. I thought about that earlier in the week, when I read that the ultra-wealthy were feeling the economic bite and cutting their spending, just like the rest of us. I even had a joke about how I almost choked up when I read of the woman who decided she shouldn't buy five pair of $700 shoes. She could make do with two pair.

But I decided against that. Let Leno. Why should I be less compassionate toward the wealthy? Some of them are my friends. And they have problems, too. They have plans that might not be fulfilled, including plans to do good for other people. What's more, provided it is the result of hard work and honest living, I should be happy that they are wealthy. We should all be happy for anyone's success. Anything less would be jealousy or envy.

Of course I am not as concerned for their well-being as I might be for the $30,000-per-year bread-winning head of household who had a subprime mortgage and lost a job.

Hey, things are tough all over. In some places, it just happens to be tougher than others. The article reminded me that tightening a $500 belt is still tightening a belt.

My hope and my wish is that those wealthy folks will grasp the situation and, perhaps, cut it to just one pair of $700 shoes, and use the other $700 to do something for a someone less fortunate, especially someone who is equally hard working.

Candidly, I was impressed with the pile of presents my co-workers produced for some families in need. Heck, some of my co-workers are families in need. And yet, they give. Surely, we are not alone. It happens all over the region. And not just at Christmas time. Teachers see kids who need things and they see that the children get it.

But just as it is more important in such tough economic times to be aware of those in need, I think it is equally important to recognize that, despite the weak market conditions, good people still find ways to help out.

Call me corny, but I believe that the tighter one pulls on his belt, the wider he must open his arms.

My wife told me about a Mitchell College student who organized gift-giving for six families. When I say gift-giving, I mean, her efforts were the difference between six families' addresses being on Santa's route, and not.

Cheryl also reminded me of TVCCA, and their Santa Anonymous program, which handed out more than 900 pairs of winter boots. Think of the depth of the snow last weekend and then consider the children who trudged through it in their September-new school shoes.

Another woman found sponsors for more than 130 families this year. She does it every year. I happen to know that one of her missions is to make sure that she is not duplicating someone else's efforts. The 130 families for which she found help are 130 families for whom, otherwise, there might have been no help.

No matter what anyone might think of the people who did not, could not or would not do for their children, the children should not suffer the failures of their parents. Make no mistake, the parents who are victims of their own bad choices and behavior surely should be held accountable. But their kids are innocent and deserve to see better days.

Alas, we count down the last five days of 2008, a dismal year in the economic realm. A year made worse by the deceit and greed of Bernard F. Madoff, the highly respected and blindly trusted investor who bilked friends, family, institutions and, most important, people who thought they were helping other people, in his $50 billion self-described Ponzi scheme.

And yet, it is refreshing to know that there are still, indeed, people helping people. It is refreshing to know that all trust is not lost.

I am compelled to believe, as we pop the cork on cheaper champagne to ring in the New Year, the cavern between the haves and the have-nots is narrower. If not economically, at least, perhaps, ideologically. That is, we all, now, have less. Happier New Year

This Is The Opinion Of Chuck Potter

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