|
Charity - an act that is done for moral reasons other than pity. You are not being charitable if you choose to suffer needlessly to get the same effect as you would through some other activity - that is martyrdom. A charitable act done only out of a sense of obligation and no intrinsic pleasure is duty (charity = intrinsic, duty = extrinsic). Thus, intent matters, though I would venture to say that one ought to consider what they believe the effects are going to be before attempting to be charitable.
My answer to your dilemma is this: it would not be charitable to visit your friend, it would be dutiful. The question then remains - do you get any amount of joy out of duty?
__________________
Innominate.
|