Charity?

What is charity? Now there are a couple of ways to look at this. I realize that there are people out there in this world who help the less fortunate, but how many people do it out of the goodness of their heart with no strings attached? It's not surprising I came to the conclusion that a small margin of people actually do contribute without wanting or expecting anything in return.

While pondering this, a series of memories came back to me. Back then I did not think too much of it, I was either too young or did not realize the entire picture. I recall once I was in the car with my friend's family. We were going out to eat lunch and at the freeway exit there was a homeless person asking for change. My friend's mom told us to hand him a 5. I thought that was nice until we pulled away and she said "I didn't want him hanging out by our car until the light turned green, and I didn't want to seem cheap."

You see! That's it right there. Image. That's what it is, it's all about how you look. Yes, I do realize that society pretty much judges you on image. But now if you're real reason for giving to charity is to boost your image, is it now considered a good deed? One particular group that I know donates millions of dollars a year. Yes I do think its great that the less fortunate are getting help. But at the same time it makes me shake my head and sigh when I realize its all a publicity stunt.

Here is another example, 7 people want to throw a mother's day dinner for their mother. Invite all her children and their family. (50+ within only 3 generations, 12 kids + their significant others + their children and children's children) Now it seemed like a great gesture, surely it would cost a large sum of money. So where is this going? They turned around and made it a fundraiser event. Sold tickets to the event to pay for it. Now it is no longer just family but strangers and business partners. That's the first part that irks me. It is no longer a special day for the mother it was originally intended for. Now there were flyers distrubuted for the event with the name of the companies that the original 7 people owned on it! Saying they were sponsoring a mother's day event for charity.

Now that doesn't seem so bad yet until I reveal the true reasons for it. Two words, TAX DEDUCTABLE. Yes, it's all to find ways to screw the government. Turn a meaningful dinner into a business event. I give them a hand of applause for finding ways to retain more money, but is it worth it? It was suppose to be a special day for someone but now for her it's just like going out to eat on any day.

I myself admit that I do not donate nor give back as much as I should. But every time I do, it's to help someone. Good or bad, overall people are getting helped. But the reasons are not as straight forward or pure as many people think.

SOTD: "Wasted"~Cartel