I recall one of the Andy Griffith episodes that I think illustrates very well the matter of giving. It seems Andy had been elected chairman of the needy children charity drive. They were taking up money at the schools for this charity as well as in town. Well, word got back to Andy that Opie had only given a penny at school. Now he had a pretty good sum in his piggy bank, but he only gave a penny. This thing upset Andy to no end. Here he was the sheriff and the chairman of the drive and his own boy only gave a penny. His identity was tied up in his son, and he thought this was a bad reflection on him. On several occasions, he tried to explain to Opie why he should give more than that to this most worthy charity, but every time Opie would tell him that he could not give because he was saving that money. Andy, of course, thought Opie was saving it to buy something that a child would want. He even sent him to his room. He once used an apple to try to explain to Opie how important sharing was. Andy finally came to the place where he was totally disgusted with his son. Finally, Aunt Bee scolded him for being overly concerned about what others would think of him because his son had not given enough to a charity drive. Then she reminded Andy that he already knew what a good little boy Opie was. Now Andy was willing to forget all of that just because he chose not to give on this one occasion. Andy called Opie back for supper and told
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