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Today's
quotation:
The
Hebrew word for "charity," tzedakah, simply means "justice"
and as this suggests, for Jews,
giving to the poor is no optional
extra but an essential part
of living a just life.
Peter Singer
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Today's
Meditation:
I've never
been wealthy, nor does it look like I ever shall be, but I
do try to make it a point to give when I can.
Charity is an element of life that I believe enhances our
lives greatly not just because we're giving to others, but
because we're living in harmony with life when we make it
a point to share our blessings with others. Some
people use charity to make themselves feel better, but
most people who give do so because they feel that it's the
right thing to do.
And I
really do believe that it is the right thing. I
would not say that anyone needs to give a certain amount--
ten
percent could be easy for one person but a terrible burden
for another-- but I would say that we each need to look at
what we have and decide what we can realistically pass on
to others in gratitude for the blessings that we
have. Yes, I work for my money, but I'm also able to
earn money because of the work of many people who have
come before me, many people who have created the systems
and infrastructures that allow me to work where I do.
I
like applying the term "justice" to the giving
of what we have to others-- or rather, the sharing of what
we have with others, whether we know them or not.
Justice seems to be a fitting term because it implies a
balance, and it implies the right thing being done.
Yes, we can keep every cent that we earn for ourselves,
and we can decide not to share the wealth that we've been
blessed with, but then it seems that life is off-kilter,
just a bit skewed, for then we're erring on the side of
taking, and on the side opposite of giving.
Robert
takes it a bit further below. How much of the wealth
of the richest people is earned through the labor of the
poor? How many people have become rich through the
sacrifices of those people who must work long, hard hours
simply to put food on the table? When we keep in
mind that all people are unified in heart and spirit, we
start to realize that the well-being of everyone is
important to all of us. Justice is an important
concept to anyone who wants to live a fair and
compassionate life, and we can contribute to justice by
sharing the plenty that we've been given with those who
have not nearly as much.
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For further
thought:
One important
aspect of justice, Jose Miranda reminds us, involves the
restoration of what has been stolen. Giving food to the hungry or
clothing to the naked is not a charitable handout but an exercise in
simple justice-- restoring to the poor what is rightfully theirs,
what has been taken from them unjustly.
Robert McAfee Brown
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