charity

Charity

by Bob on June 20, 2007

Charity is one of those amazing virtues. It needs to be practiced to keep our world in balance.

The interesting thing about Charity is that it, in theory, as the wise scholars and spiritual leaders wrote, should be as blind as Justice is supposed to be.

That is to say, when we do some charity for someone, such as give them something or whatever, we are not to ask questions as to whether the person is really in need. The cheerful giver. Charity does more for the person giving Charity than the receiver of it. Just wearing a blind mask like Justice.

This is very hard for human beings. Because we work hard for our money and possessions. And we want Charity to go to deserving people.

Well, it might not really be like that.

It's like giving a gift to someone. Is it really a gift ? I had a relative who gave me a tie as a birthday present. If I didn't wear the tie, she got upset. That's a human reaction, but defeats the idea of giving freely. And if I gave the tie away to someone else, she would be terribly angry. So it wasn't mine. It was hers on my shirt. It was given emotionally, which is understandable.

All this lies in delicate balance.

True giving and Charity is like putting a corked bottle in the sea and not worrying about where or why it will land somewhere, if it ever lands.

And Charity is done in person by us. Not by a corporation.

The modern age might be tricking us. So it goes.