Giving Freely
Charity's a constant problem with me. I hate just giving money and watching it go .. I fear what it may do. Where it may go. But that's what people want .. money. It's hard to find places to volunteer, and harder to find places where the volunteering means something. And even when you volunteer, the people want money as well (which really infurates me. You get one or the other from me .. you only get both AFTER I decide you're worth it. If then).
I also feel, rightly or wrongly, that charity is part of actually enforcing the system which leaves people at the bottom. I'd rather change the system than pay into it .. even if that's not always a reasonable goal. So giving to charity makes me feel sometimes almost dirty .. which isn't reasonable, but is very scary. I get burned out very quickly in places where I feel all I'm doing is enforcing the system.
It's a problem for which I don't see any real solution .. if I did, I'd probably be working on implementing it. I just think .. we celebrate the Divine poorly with our charity system. We encourage apathy, not among those that scramble at the bottom to survive (Because they are not apathetic, whatever we tell ourselves) but among those that feel that a gift of money settles things. We sit with our fancy televisions on expensive furniture and feel virtuous because we're giving that dollar a day to some children's charity, and then ignore the people we pass daily that are starving in our streets.
We have the ability to feed everyone, but we don't. We have the ability to give everyone access to clean water, but we don't. Why don't we? I don't know .. but even more, I don't know why more people don't ask that question.
Questions:
What do I give and why? I don't give much, and I should. But I get paralized by the choices. Right now my favorite charity is the Heifer Project .. because it gives wealth, not just cash. Wealth has meaning and brings value far beyond the cash value .. cash just feeds once and is done. Feeding is important .. but building wealth is so much more so.
What do I think about charitable systems? I think they're full of people, and as such, there comes a point they become self-sustaining. I suspect a lot of them would absolutely freak out if hunger just disappeared. That said, I think a lot of them are full of good, caring people .. I've worked in nonprofits. But once it becomes about the money and not what you can do with it, you've reached a serious problem state. And they almost all reach that point.
What would I change and why? That's the problem, I just don't know. I'd rather change things at the government level to keep people in housing in the first place than build a house with Habitat for Humanity, for example. Not that building that house isn't important .. but if ten people get kicked out of housing, and we build one of them a house, are we really helping? The system is too big and I see too much, and it paralyzes me. I need to see smaller, and I don't know how. (or maybe I need to see bigger and find an answer somewhere .. but I don't know how to do that either).
I also feel, rightly or wrongly, that charity is part of actually enforcing the system which leaves people at the bottom. I'd rather change the system than pay into it .. even if that's not always a reasonable goal. So giving to charity makes me feel sometimes almost dirty .. which isn't reasonable, but is very scary. I get burned out very quickly in places where I feel all I'm doing is enforcing the system.
It's a problem for which I don't see any real solution .. if I did, I'd probably be working on implementing it. I just think .. we celebrate the Divine poorly with our charity system. We encourage apathy, not among those that scramble at the bottom to survive (Because they are not apathetic, whatever we tell ourselves) but among those that feel that a gift of money settles things. We sit with our fancy televisions on expensive furniture and feel virtuous because we're giving that dollar a day to some children's charity, and then ignore the people we pass daily that are starving in our streets.
We have the ability to feed everyone, but we don't. We have the ability to give everyone access to clean water, but we don't. Why don't we? I don't know .. but even more, I don't know why more people don't ask that question.
Questions:
What do I give and why? I don't give much, and I should. But I get paralized by the choices. Right now my favorite charity is the Heifer Project .. because it gives wealth, not just cash. Wealth has meaning and brings value far beyond the cash value .. cash just feeds once and is done. Feeding is important .. but building wealth is so much more so.
What do I think about charitable systems? I think they're full of people, and as such, there comes a point they become self-sustaining. I suspect a lot of them would absolutely freak out if hunger just disappeared. That said, I think a lot of them are full of good, caring people .. I've worked in nonprofits. But once it becomes about the money and not what you can do with it, you've reached a serious problem state. And they almost all reach that point.
What would I change and why? That's the problem, I just don't know. I'd rather change things at the government level to keep people in housing in the first place than build a house with Habitat for Humanity, for example. Not that building that house isn't important .. but if ten people get kicked out of housing, and we build one of them a house, are we really helping? The system is too big and I see too much, and it paralyzes me. I need to see smaller, and I don't know how. (or maybe I need to see bigger and find an answer somewhere .. but I don't know how to do that either).
posted by Vieva | 9:33 AM
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