You worked hard and ripped the benefits. Others had no chance or made life-ruining choices. Technically speaking, you owe nothing to the unsuccessful. If you owe nothing to them, you should just ignore the poor, right? Not easy, huh? We, as humans, view greed from a third-point of of view. The greedy people do not view themselves are greedy. They took a huge risk sometime along their life to be at the top and we bash them? Let's be objective: the poor really should not ride on the back of others. However, it does not hurt to help them. By donating, we give someone else an opportunity. As a matter of fact, charity is not about investing time or money. It's about satisfaction. Think about it. Don't you feel good when you help others? Helping others makes us human beings feel powerful and life-changers. Forget the "I spent X to get X, so blah, blah....". Every human being has social responsibility. For example, a poor man asks for a dollar and you refuse to share one of your dollars, did you take some sort of responsibility to help the man? No. When we donate, we support a cause, person, or idea. We think our donation contributes to their goal and we hope they will get there. Self-subsidy is important to stay alive but charity is important to keep others afloat. When about 25% of this country is poor (by federal guidelines), it is a bit hard to ignore and not contribute.
You pose a very good point. A lot of times the topic of helping out the poor is very tricky. There are poor who are poor because they were too lazy to get a job or because they spend all the money they do have on alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. Of course, there are also poor people who may have certain disabilities or lost their job during the recession. I think that the decision of whether to help someone in need varies greatly with the person in need.
ReplyDeleteVikki I understand what you are saying but how do we know for sure if that person really needs it or if they just want it for drugs or alcohol? we cant be for sure. So when someone asks me for a dollar or change most of the time I give it to them, if they do not need it and they are just being lazy it's on them, I know I know i tried to do the right thing. :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice input people. Thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first few questions, if I earned something I would share most of it. Depending on what it is: if it is my paycheck, sure I would let someone borrow or have money if they needed it. If it's compliments on something I have done with a group, I don't mind if someone takes some of the credit, but not all of it. I think if you earn something, you should share some of it, because soon or later it could come back to someone helping you.:)
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