I have often thought about the Samaritan, and the question that prefaces that parable; who is my neighbor. It seems that a neighbor is one who requires some assistance that you personally can give. It starts with you, and extends as far as you have means and ability to extend to. If you have the energy to go to a refugee camp and work there, more power to you. If you just help someone who drops packages, or is struggling with a door, there’s your neighbor de jour. Someone asking for information you can give or help you can offer, there you go. The closer to you, the more personal your interaction, the better. It must be freely given, not coerced (a la the present administration, as well as almost all previous administrations, to judge by my tax burden and the decisions regarding always raising the debt limit to blow more cash out the confetti cannons for pet projects). To paraphrase a certain governor “Do your own damn charity!”
I’m presently working through James Rosen’s Bio of Scalia. Love it so far, and love the fact that he is more sympathetic and I suspect more even handed than previous “biographers” were for this great man. I have read some of Scalia’s speeches and writings. I have also seen forwards written by Ruth Baden Ginsberg, and I doubt that there are any such warm friendships across the political divide today.
There was a time when people went to church and donated their time and money to helping their neighbors and friends through the congregation. Example: A barn burned down, everyone chipped in physically and financially to rebuild it.
Those churches are still out there. I go to one. A family with a severely disabled dad (due to a car crash years ago) had their van break down. Our church bought them a new one. It really is up to us to take charity seriously, and if we don't feel it in our church, maybe we should inspire it in them ourselves. God Bless :)
Love this--haven't been keeping up with your writings lately, and I was rewarded when I opened this today! Beautifully simple statement of what's wrong with the bureaucratic version of "helping" the poor.
Amen! The government can't love you.
It can get in the way or clear it; them’s the options
My college got Smash Mouth.
Another intellectual giant of our times!
SomeBODY once informed me of my imminent demise,
Of the fate that awaits a wounded bird that flies.
She had little to show, but she still let me know
With an L what I had yet to surmise.
I have often thought about the Samaritan, and the question that prefaces that parable; who is my neighbor. It seems that a neighbor is one who requires some assistance that you personally can give. It starts with you, and extends as far as you have means and ability to extend to. If you have the energy to go to a refugee camp and work there, more power to you. If you just help someone who drops packages, or is struggling with a door, there’s your neighbor de jour. Someone asking for information you can give or help you can offer, there you go. The closer to you, the more personal your interaction, the better. It must be freely given, not coerced (a la the present administration, as well as almost all previous administrations, to judge by my tax burden and the decisions regarding always raising the debt limit to blow more cash out the confetti cannons for pet projects). To paraphrase a certain governor “Do your own damn charity!”
I’m presently working through James Rosen’s Bio of Scalia. Love it so far, and love the fact that he is more sympathetic and I suspect more even handed than previous “biographers” were for this great man. I have read some of Scalia’s speeches and writings. I have also seen forwards written by Ruth Baden Ginsberg, and I doubt that there are any such warm friendships across the political divide today.
We are not given the option of choosing who is, or is not, our neighbor. Love, in this case, must be blind, or we reject it at our spiritual peril.
There was a time when people went to church and donated their time and money to helping their neighbors and friends through the congregation. Example: A barn burned down, everyone chipped in physically and financially to rebuild it.
Those churches are still out there. I go to one. A family with a severely disabled dad (due to a car crash years ago) had their van break down. Our church bought them a new one. It really is up to us to take charity seriously, and if we don't feel it in our church, maybe we should inspire it in them ourselves. God Bless :)
Love this--haven't been keeping up with your writings lately, and I was rewarded when I opened this today! Beautifully simple statement of what's wrong with the bureaucratic version of "helping" the poor.
Well said, great insights.