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In bestowing charity, the main consideration: should be to help those who will help themselves; to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so; to give those who desire to rise the aids by which they may rise; to assist, but rarely or never to do all. Neither the individual nor the race is improved by almsgiving. Those worthy of assistance, except in rare cases, seldom require assistance. The really valuable men of the race never do, except in case of accident or sudden change. Every one has, of course, cases of individuals brought to his own knowledge where temporary assistance can do genuine good, and these he will not overlook. But the amount which can be wisely given by the individual for individuals is necessarily limited by his lack of knowledge of the circumstances connected with each. He is the only true reformer who is as care ful and as anxious not to aid the unworthy as he is to aid the worthy, and, perhaps, even more so, for in almsgiving more injury is probably done by rewarding vice than by relieving virtue.
The rich man is thus almost restricted to following the examples of...others, who know that the best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise: free libraries, parks, and means of recreation, by which men are helped in body and mind; works of art, certain to give pleasure and improve the public taste; and public institutions of various kinds, which will improve the general condition of the people; in this manner returning their surplus wealth to the mass of their fellows in the forms best calculated to do them lasting good.
http://alpha.furman.edu/~benson/docs/carnegie.htm
-Andrew Carnegie, Wealth [also appeared later in the book "The Gospel of Wealth"], "North American Review", June, 1889
The twentieth century French dramatist Jean Anouilh wrote a play about Beckett which was made into a film in the 1960’s. In the film Richard Burton played the lead role of the archbishop of Canterbury. Now Beckett was before his calling a libertine, and when ordained archbishop he goes through a ceremony divesting himself of all his earthly possessions. He invites the poor into the cathedral and distributes all he has item by item among them. At one point he stops, points to the crucifix hanging over the alter, and whispers harshly with an irony in his voice, “You! You! You are the only one who knows how easy this is! Everyone else thinks it is difficult!” In this brilliant scene the message comes through that spirituality leads to sacrifice, but that the sacrifices are easy because of the joy and the fulfilment that comes from giving away one’s earthly possessions to meet the needs of the poor. I wonder if, like me, you still struggle to come to terms with that. I continue to struggle to get to grips with the fullness of that joy, of that way of life. I know that I still feel there is more joy in holding on to keeping things than getting rd of them. But it is not just material things - it extends to thoughts, prejudices, ways of life - all and any one of these can become a blockage in the realization of the joy that God has in store for us, that God wants for us.
Almsgiving tends to perpetuate poverty; aid does away with it once and for all. Almsgiving leaves a man just where he was before. Aid restores him to society as an individual worthy of all respect and not as a man with a grievance. Almsgiving is the generosity of the rich; social aid levels up social inequalities. Charity separates the rich from the poor; aid raises the needy and sets him on the same level with the rich.
Books about Charity
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