Why do we give?

Six years ago I wrote this thought about giving, alms, charity, and mercy and the long term benefits.

"I read the Columbus Catholic Times, a hand off from a family friend. I'm learning a lot. Just this week I noticed a difference in how Catholics and Protestants use the concept of giving. Catholics suggest "works of mercy" or "works of charity," and Protestants say we will change poverty, schooling, politics, the environment, etc. if we just chip in $10 for the food pantry, or a backpack for Highland school child, or cleaning up a town after a flood or tornado. There's a huge difference. We are to give because Jesus gave first, not because we will end poverty (we won't) or make up for the terrible home of a child (we can't). According to Matt. 25, we will meet Jesus in those acts of kindness and service, so we do them without expecting the reward of change. Meeting Jesus is the reward."

When I was a community organizer

I certainly wasn’t Jesus Christ. Although there are some nattering nabobs of punditry (that means chattering know nothings who think they are rich with words) who have tried to reframe what we did (Donna Brazile, Tom Brokow, Steven Cohen, etc. and other brilliant theologians) and who Jesus is.

Let’s be clear. Christians believe Jesus is God incarnate who stepped into the world he created for a very specific purpose, and it wasn't political, social or cultural. I, however, in those days was a friendly, well-intentioned young adult from the middle-class and middle west going door-to-door taking surveys and feeling benevolent in a poor and working class neighborhood in California. Our surveys were probably worded so that no matter what the residents answered about their needs, we already had the answer. I don’t remember, but I know that’s how it is done. Saul Alinsky and the Communists didn’t invent this, the churches did--maybe that‘s why from a 50 year perspective a very ignorant, in-the-tank for Obama, MSM has picked up on this mantra. I was idealistic and had a vision that I could make a difference. I suspect most of the families and certainly the teenagers my own age that I met in that African-American community moved into the middle class through their own efforts. There were a few female-headed households, but not too many. There were married fathers in the homes of that community. The adults in that neighborhood were the off-spring of migrant workers who had arrived in California in the 1930s during the Depression, leaving behind the poverty and racism of the South. Although their lives weren’t materially as good as what I had enjoyed growing up in Illinois, they were light years ahead of their parents and grandparents.

Food pantries, clothes closets and job assistance came later, maybe the 70s. In the 1950s we offered play ground supervision, Bible school, canteen type activities for youth, a community garden, and maybe some tool sharing like lawn mowers--not sure about all the services. Whatever we did, I’m quite sure we made no long term difference in the community. You’re never any smarter than the era in which you live, and the reason it’s better to give than receive, is because no one wants to be anyone else’s charity project. When was the last time you had to accept help and felt good about it?

I had a great time, learned a lot, got much more than I gave, and would never, never even consider that it belonged on my resume.

Libraries out of their depth

You probably can’t pray or hold religious services in this library, but you can buy clothing. Call me stodgy, but I think libraries should serve the community with information about services, not the services themselves.

“The Good Buy Room has some great deals on gently used clothing. The Spring selection of wares are here and are very reasonably priced. When you come into the main library in Buckhorn next time, go downstairs to the lower level and checkout the wonderful selection.”

So many librarians really wanted to be social workers at heart. They wanted to help people save the world without seeing blood or a classroom or digging a well. In career counseling they were warned about the paper work, documentation, constant meetings, low pay and seeing no change in people’s lives, so instead, they gravitated to library science. No one alerted them . . . that. . .well. . . it’s supposed to be about information--collecting, storing, preserving, guiding and providing (plus all the above listed stuff). Increasingly it’s about networks, computers, licensing, and fund raising, but all with the goal of providing people with information they can use. Some libraries rent tools and supply day-care. Some have reading classes. Or teach crafts. Show movies. Put on rock shows with air guitars. Anything to raise stats.

Does this community not have a Women’s Club, or Veterans Group or Church or Hospital Auxiliary that is looking for a service project? Is there only one public building? Let the schools teach; let the churches read and follow Matthew 25; let the volunteer groups raise funds.

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Upkeep for the Joneses

One of the cottages I passed on my walk yesterday had the name, "Upkeep for the Joneses." Here at Lakeside, many people give their cottage a name, and it sometimes is passed along to the new owner. Ours doesn't have a name, but we tell people we live in the Thompson cottage, the previous owner's name. He died in his 80s and was born on that site in the previous house.

Robert J. Samuelson writes about the happiness scale in the Washington Post, and syndicated elsewhere (I saw it in the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Although much wealthier than they were in 1977, Americans still rate about the same on "happiness." So money doesn't buy happiness.

In 1977, 35.7 percent of Americans rated themselves "very happy," 53.2 percent "pretty happy" and 11 percent "not too happy," reports the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. In 2006, the figures are similar: 32.4 percent "very happy," 55.9 percent "pretty happy" and 11.7 percent "not too happy." Likewise, in most advanced countries, self-reported happiness has been flat for decades.

Go figure. After the basics are satisfied, we can spend a lifetime chasing something we think money will buy. My husband says the happiest people he ever met were the Haitians he got to know last February on a mission trip. By our standards, they had nothing.

One of the happiest people I've talked to recently is suffering (without complaint) from a post polio condition, and is retiring soon with a very limited income. She talks enthusiastically about selling her home and moving into a small apartment on her son's rural property. She has a very full life of service to others, some as a missionary with YWAM and is joyful and excited about life.

No social scientist can explain this. And although she is a committed Christian, even that isn't an explanation, because I know many Christians who aren't happy even if they do serve others and they aren't pleasant to be around. I suspect she was born with some "half full" genes.