guthmund

I'm afraid you misunderstand me or rather I haven't been clear enough. I'm not talking about government money being handed out to the poor. I'm not talking about welfare, food stamps, heating assistance or HUD. In fact, the only reason I brought taxes up in the first place was to counter the off hand remark you made about violating people's rights by forcibly taking money from them.

Let me be absolutely clear. I'm talking solely about charity. There are thousands of non-profit organizations out there that do great work for those that can't fend for themselves. Why just around here in my little podunk in the woods we have a dozen different charities that are funded by solely on private donations. They hand out food, maintain a shelter for the homeless, another for battered women, a small drug rehabilitation program and the list goes on. I would love to give every dime I have to these people for the great work that they do, however, I don't have a lot of dimes, so I give what I can afford, which is mostly my time. Bill Gates is a busy man with not a lot of time to spare, but he's got a whole lot of money just sitting around doing nothing.

And again, let me be clear. I'm not belittling what Mr. Gates has done. Like I said, I wish more would follow his example.

Charity. Just charity. Money to schools, the Red Cross, battered women ranches, the Salvation Army, make a wish, Jerry's kids, St. Jude's, these organizations all have a pretty good idea how to make it work. How many kids do you think are scamming St. Jude's? How many of those Jerry's kids do you think are playing the system? How many displaced families lost their homes on purpose just to get a quick couple of bucks for free?

I applaud your cynicism. I really do as I'm quite the cynic myself. There are a lot of folks out there who want to take advantage of the system. Fortunately, however, most charity organizations run a pretty tight ship (all Red Cross jokes aside ) and the good they do far, far outweighs the bad, in my opinion.


Men are equal under the law, but Men aren't created equal. Some of them are smarter, prettier, better athletic, better eyes, quicker reflexes, funnier, have better organizational skills, speak better in public, etc, which help them get along in the world. And some have MS, are blind, born deaf, mentally disabled, physically disabled and are born with any of a litany of diseases or disablities that prevents them from making their own way without a bit of help.

In the past, it was beneficial to the tribe to leave them behind as they were only a hinderance on the rest and it was considered an act of compassion. Today we have the technology, the wherewithal, the industry and the ability to save those same people, but ironically, most lack the compassion.

It would be nice, to live in a world where we realized that not everyone is given the same resources to draw upon when we come into the world. Where our compassion and humanity drive us to help everyone who has a need that has to be met. If not for compassion's sake then at the very least, to build a bit of cosmic karma if, god forbid, they should ever find themselves on the other side of the bread line instead of consistently looking out for number one and repeating the tried and true mantra of "out of sight, out of mind." It's a bit idealistic, no doubt about it, but the thoughts entertaining.

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