People in need

I don’t like charity, and even less do I like people who say ‘charity begins at home’.

I don’t like charity because in this day and age there should be no need for it. It is not beyond the wit of mankind to be able to feed, clothe and provide shelter for everyone on this planet. A large proportion of us just need to stop being greedy bastards.

People who say ‘charity begins at home’ tend to use this phrase as a metaphor for ‘I’m a racist bastard, and I don’t want any lazy foreigner to benefit’. You just know that when anyone utters those immortal words that they invariably have a much distorted view of the world monochrome mundi.

Whilst I don’t like charity in principle, and in no way wishing to brag, I do give on a regular basis. I don’t see how any compassionate human, that can afford it, would not do so. Today I’ve realised that I tend to take a ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs‘ approach when deciding which charities to give to. Top of my giving list is Oxfam for the very reason that they provide the basics of life to so many people around the world.

I’m not saying that any cause is more deserving than any other. We should each give according to our own conscience. But by the same token I don’t want people to tell me who I should give to. I choose not to give to children’s charities. Not because I hate children, but because they are the high profile charities that seem to hog the limelight at the expense of other less ‘sexy’ charities. I also don’t give to animal charities for similar reasons. A warped perspective? Possibly!