It’s an intriguing fact that there’s a tremendous amount of overlap between good humanitarian actions and good business actions, and this image exemplifies it. The owner of this dry cleaning store is helping people short on luck and money, doing his or her part to help them. But once they do this, it’s also natural for the people who were helped to be grateful, and to prefer their business in the future.

Real humanitarian transactions – personal giving – are voluntary and beneficial. Free market transactions are likewise voluntary and beneficial: If both parties didn’t think they’d be better off by it, they simply wouldn’t trade.

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Before going back to the mundane, meditate for a moment on the fact that any voluntary business undertakes complex operations, rises above serious challenges, and gives people the essentials of their physical survival. This is magnificently important. And remember that in non-monopolistic dealings, no one is compelled; they are free to trade or to walk away. That is supremely moral.