Thinking About Charity?
I got into the elevator to go for my evening walk when I met one of the ladies from the building. We exchanged some pleasantries and soon reached the foyer. We noticed a bright poster on the Information Board. It was an appeal from an NGO. They were collecting warm clothing for distribution to the homeless. The options they had provided for charity were to donate warm clothes, bedsheets, blankets, or even money.
Wow! I said, this is a great opportunity to donate my woollens. I have quite a few woollen clothes and blankets that I don’t need, makes me so happy that they would be put to good use. My companion seemed a little uncomfortable and said, “Oh, now I have to donate since you are going to do it and others will also join!”
Well, I said, it is voluntary and you don’t have to do it! But she continued that she would do it as she cannot be left out when people talk about it.
I Pondered.....
I smiled, left her, and went ahead with my walk. As I continued walking, I remembered my school days when we baked cupcakes and took them to school on a particular day. Our teacher took us with our cupcakes to visit the orphanage. It was fun playing with the orphan kids and sharing our cupcakes with joy. Sometimes, she took us to an old age home. There we chatted with the inmates, shared our cup cakes and listened to the fairy tales they so joyfully narrated to us. We loved the experience! Life was simple, selfless, and full of happiness.
I kept thinking about the conversation in the foyer. I suddenly realized that this was the festive season, a time for gifting and charity. In fact, I read about a study conducted on how maximum charity was received during this time of the year.
I continued with my thoughts on charity and recognized that there are three types of charity people indulge in.
The First Type: we don’t really feel charitable, but do charity because others can see what we are doing, such as occasions when organizations celebrate ‘the joy of giving or charity week’, or there has been a natural calamity and you have to donate a day’s wages.
The Second Type: we look at it as an opportunity to show off by doing some charity to uplift the impoverished. The truth however is that the amount spent towards charity is fetching us tax relief!
The Third Type: no one knows about what we give, to whom we give, and how much we give as this giving is simply the outpouring of the heart!
No matter which type of charity we choose to do, it still benefits the receiver!
Isn’t charity a humanitarian act after all? If that is so, we just need to be humane and compassionate, then everything will flow from the heart….
Let us open our hearts to be more generous with our time, resources and money to experience the joy of giving – believe me, it is very fulfilling!
