On Charity and Generosity

Seoul, South Korea

The hand is coming out to help. There are multiple stories and parables about biting the hand that feeds, but where is the story about biting the hand that helps?

There are also those who say that when their life is in danger, they do not care who is coming to help them, regardless of race, color, religion, orientation, gender, or anything in between. Yet for a brief moment when the helping hand comes near, there is a brief hesitation.

The person with the outstretched arm offering guidance, advice, or counsel retracts their hand. They ponder the meaning of it all. They question if there is any real benefit. Will the person waiting for their assistance use it for something productive, or will they use it to continue their own destructive behaviors and make poor usage of others' time and energy?

This is a question that can only be answered by trying. Once we turn pessimistic about aid and assistance, we lose track of the ideal and the goal that we set out to achieve from the beginning. Our goal is not only to give one person a hand out. Our goal is to live in a world where handouts will be unnecessary, but before we achieve the ideal we must confront the situations of daily reality. 

There comes a moment when we must combine compassion with cleverness and wisdom. We must use our intelligence and our sense of human decency to bring aid and comfort to those around us. Giving money to someone who begs can often lead to catastrophic consequences. Aiding someone's destructive habits are by no means part of the ideal.

Giving kind words to someone who is not seeking them can often lead to someone becoming uncomfortable and irritated with what was meant to be a gesture of warmth and divine love.

There comes a point in life when the person with the outstretched arm must realize that their intentions might not always come with open and welcome arms. Even if someone is in need of something they will not always accept it or even know they are in need of it.

Let us use our intelligence to determine who will value our actions the most, and who will ignore our kindness? Who will use an act of gratitude as a tool to achieve something greater and more productive for the Earth, and who will use it to only enhance their own selfishness or troll-like behavior.

Let our charity become a combination of the mind and the heart. Try our best to make the strongest decisions possible. For if both the mind and the heart are not strong, they cannot achieve their mission. They cannot contribute to the removal of destruction and the promotion of peace in the world.

Let us use our generosity for the productivity of human society and the protection of the Earth. Let us use our resources to help those in need without bringing a single unwanted emotion to another. Let us find ways to solve conflicts in the most peaceful means possible and not trample a single living thing if we can do so.

Whether one shares a token of fortune or a token of wisdom with someone, they are sharing productivity all the same. They are sharing kindness, but in different forms. They are attempting to contribute to a greater form of goodness for the planet Earth, and it can be done by every single human being.

Ask yourself, where is your charity going? Ask yourself, who is going to benefit the most from this action? Ask yourself, before sending this message, how will the other person react?

Let us use our creativity, social understanding, and passion for helping humanity to spread the most pure messages of charity and generosity the human mind can conjure. Let us begin now.