January 23, 2006
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I was surfing Xanga and found some early 20-somethings debating about
whether it is better to be community minded and responsible for their
fellow man first or is it better to be self-productive, think of
yourself first and foremost and share whatever is leftover. In the
theory that what you have leftover is better because you have thought
of yourself first so have the best there is to give. Well, it
wasn’t my debate so I didn’t get into with a bunch of strangers who
might feel like all I wanted was a flame war, but of course I have an
opinion and you get to read it, unless you navigate away immediately.navigate away now…..okay, you were warned.
It is my belief and humble opinion that we are responsible not only for
ourselves but for our less fortunate brothers and sisters. I
think we have a responsibility to the care and feeding of our fellow
man and should share what we have freely and without restraint.
Better leftovers? They are still leftovers and you are taking
away from yourself and the person you are offering this charity to if
that is all your offering. I wouldn’t want your leftover caviar
and champagne, I would much rather have that jar of peanut butter and a
helping hand to get out of the situation.
That is actually part
of the reason why I support Heifer International. They give a
helping hand to people but at the same time they are teaching people
how to be self-sufficient and fostering a whole new chain of
giving within the own community. They don’t take away pride by
turning you into a lifelong charity case.
This leads me to a direct indictment of most of the American Welfare
system. That system and I are in complete disagreement about how
to operate but of course the gov’t didn’t ask me how to run
things. But honestly why would you want to live a hard life
working at a minimum wage job and struggling to pay bills month after
month. When you could just let the gov’t pay your way. There were
plenty of times when I thought I must be all kinds of stupid for doing
exactly that.
I’ll never forget when Arkansas started the child health insurance.
(now common throughout the U.S.) We were so excited that our kids
would be covered and routine visit to the dentist and doctor wouldn’t
have to be planned out like a D-Day invasion. Then to our
amazement when we applied we were told our monthly income was over the
top limit. I got the chart and looked and sure enough we
were………by $10.00.
This presented us with several choices. I could ask my boss to
reduce my already pitiful salary by ten dollars a month to
qualify. Or I could just quit my job and then we would qualify
not only for free health care for our children but we would qualify for
food stamps, free school lunches, and all school fees would be
waved. This would save us hundreds of dollars. It would
have been so easy to do that, sit back and accept the hand-out.
But you know the bottom line is we didn’t want a hand-out we wanted a
helping hand. Just for a little while, just until we got where we
were headed. It was and still is an absurd thing that we were
working out tails off and poorer than the people on all the gov’t
“help” and it is still a weird source of pride that we didn’t cave into
the pressure and be on the dole for years just because they made it so
easy to be.
My kids know we were living tight but they also knew then as they do
now that there were plenty of people who had it worse. They
usually brought them home. Either through a combination of awful
parents or just no where to go we had a lot of flow thru family.
A little food and a little friendship and understanding goes a long
way. We also always tried to give to the local food banks and
“adopted” kids at Christmas. And I also tried to give to other
national and international charitable organizations. I hope that
I have taught them that
their family is not limited to a specific chain of DNA. I hope
that when they give they do it with a free hand to all their brothers
and sisters throughout the world.
So yes, I believe we are responsible for all the “ugly, disagreeable,
undeserving, lazy,”
people in the world. (sarcasm there, but I hope you take the time
to click on the colored links) But I don’t give hand
outs. If you want a hand UP then I’m your girl. And don’t
tell me you don’t have any money to spare. For years I didn’t
have any money so I did what I could through volunteering. Girl
Scouts, The local nursing home, the literacy foundation, etc.
Most
organization are just as desperate for a pair of hands as they are for
a dollar bill. Do what you can when you can. This is what
comes of my surfing….I sometimes think I take things a tad
personal. Oh well. Have a great Tues.
Comments (6)
I completely agree. When I was little my mom was ill and raising me on her own. I know she had a hard time making ends meet. Thanks to neighbors and sometimes strangers, I remember my childhood being a relatively happy one. In fact, a family my mom didn’t even know took me in for ten months while she was hospitalized. Now I try to repay that kindness by doing what I can for kids and families I meet who need a hand. I work in a school where all of our kids qualify for free or reduced lunch, so I am surrounded by opportunities to help others. And, they help me right back … the kids especially are a constant reminder of what’s important in life. Sometimes they drive me nuts, but they also bring me a lot of joy. ;o)
I have to admit, I’ve become very jaded. I work for a program that provide healthcare to migrant farmworks (regardless of nationality). Many of the people that are on the program, are on the program because they have mislead us while filling out paperwork. Some of them make more money than I do but get free healthcare…and have been for the almost 4 years I’ve worked there. It’s a system with good intentions but poor execution.
When I donate time/money, it’s generally to animal protection organizations.
“This is what comes of my surfing….I sometimes think I take things a tad personal.”
I do the same darn thing.
Well just keep on keeping on. I think my attitude solely comes from my generation..you know us decrepate baby boomers. My parents were involved in rallies, worked in food kitchens,etc. I’ve taken my kids since they were toddlers to experience what volunteering is all about. I don’t think mine know what a Thanksgiving dinner at home is like because we always eat at the homeless shelter that we work at each year! And by doing that, I know they’ll do the same with their own kids.
I sometimes get to listen to the ABC on the radio at work (Australian Broadcasting Commission). They have some really interesting people interviewed, and just a couple of days ago there was someone talking about human nature, mostly in relation to whether or not men have real sympathy symptoms when their partner is pregnant. Anyway, the person talked about how some monkeys were tested as to whether or not they care about others by having 2 options whereby if they press one button they get the food reward, and if they press the other then both that monkey and one in a cage next to it also gets the food reward. They said that the monkey knew exactly what both buttons did, but it never gave food or water to the other monkey, it just looked after itself. The point was that apparently it is only humans who will care for others if given the opportunity. I just found that interesting, and your blog just reminded me of it.
That is amazing Chris!