Rethinking Charity

Charity begins at home. How often I heard that statement growing up. I was raised in a church going home where the Bible was prominent on our bookshelves. The common understanding of the definition of charity back then was an ethical consideration, the intention to judge people in a tolerant way, to forgive transgressions, to see others possessing the frailties we, too, had. Today the word charity is usually invoked to refer to an organization that collects money to help needy people. One gives to a charity, or founds a charity. There are charity events, charity campaigns, charity balls, charity giving. We walk for charity, we raise funds for those who are on the bottom, those underneath us - we who have resources and who live in the relative safety of those means.

The other day I heard David Hilfiker , MD, talking of the limits of today's charity. Dr. Hilfiker founded Joseph's House in Washington, DC, a community for formerly homeless men with AIDS. David pointed out that we give to charities for ourselves, it feels like the right thing to do for our own spiritual health. But, in giving to certain organizations we are in control of those gifts, who gets it, how they use it. That creates a whole lot of problems with charity. David points to the injustice of our social fabric, the terrible gap between the haves and have-nots. Hilfiker lobbies for the creation of real relationships between those on the top and those on the bottom. Relationships will be the things to change the situations that create the injustices charity seeks to correct. If the injustices in our societies were eliminated that would make the writing of checks and holding fancy dinners to raise money for "charities" less necessary. We must change the structures of society that benefit us and hurt "them", he says. Sending money over the Internet to a charity group on the other side of the country, hoping the cash will alleviate an unjust situation keeps us removed from the reality of the suffering of those on the bottom of our society. Time to rethink how to help those in need. You can find essays and a list of David's books on his website, www.davidhilfiker.com They are worth reading.