“What kind of cruel charity charges orphans $500 to eat dinner?” – News Radio
The Mrs. seems rather narrow-minded about certain donations.
Before Pop Wilder passed away, I would go to visit him on a regular basis. After graduating from college, almost all of my trips and time off from work (when we didn’t stay home) was spent visiting Pop at our ancestral homeland in the mountains around Zorro Falls. I called the trips to go visit Pop “Obili-cations” because I felt obligated to go to see him on my vacations. Sure, I had a choice on how to spend those 10 days of vacation a year, but I also knew that the number of hours I’d ever get to spend with him were like the collective I.Q. of Congress: finite and rapidly shrinking.
To me, these trips were important. I figured* that I had spent over 99% of the hours I’d ever spend with Pop already. I had 1% or less of those hours left. These hours were precious and few. Given that perspective, I didn’t really mind spending every vacation day going to see him up at Zorro Falls. Now that I’m a father, I’m very glad I made those trips since it now gives me the excuse to guilt my own children into doing the same thing.
While we visited, I’d often go to church with Pop on Sunday mornings. Pop had lived within thirty miles of Zorro Falls his entire life. This church we’d go to was the same small church where we went when I was a child. It was the same church where, as a five year old, I had colored Jesus’ face bright purple during Sunday School one Sunday morning.
Sunday School Teacher, leaning to look at my coloring page: “Johnny, you know that Jesus wasn’t really purple, right?”
Young Johnny Wilder: “He’s God. He can be any color he wants to be.” I never even bothered to look up at her. I was busy coloring the Apostle Matthew’s skin in silver, having finished with Jesus. It was only years later that I realized that Matthew had been a Terminator™ sent back from the future to stop Jesus from giving birth to John Conner®. Now, at last, the Bible made sense!
Jesus could also be a Terminator© if he wanted to be and if he could obtain the rights from James Cameron. I think that would have made the Crucifixion even more interesting . . .
Sunday School Teacher had no response to my stunningly brilliant “purple Jesus” logic, but did tell Ma Wilder. Ma Wilder got years of mileage out of that story, though I wish she wouldn’t have told it to the guys on my wrestling team.
But back to the story: I was on an obli-cation, and I met Pop at his place and went to the church with him. We sat down in the pew right up front since Pop claimed that the artillery during his European vacation in the 1940’s hadn’t been particularly good for his hearing. Sissy.
The Pastor began his sermon. Now, I always really liked that Pastor – he had been friends with the family for years. He had officiated at Ma Wilder’s funeral. The topic of his sermon that day was charity.
I am a strong believer in charity. I think that there are few things that are better for the human soul than giving freely of one’s time or money to help another worthy person. Maybe Ruffles® or Ding-Dongs© are close, but they’re still not quite as good as charity.
I look back on my life and feel really good about the times I was able to help someone. I recall stopping at a convenience store while travelling for business. I was looking for a book store, because I’d just finished the novel I was reading. The clerk told me that, “This is Chicago, nearest book store is . . . twenty miles that way, at the mall.” He then did something unusual. He looked me in the eye, and pointed at a tiny redhead, maybe 19, standing by a car in the rain, very out of place in the mean streets of south Chicago. “She needs your help, man.”
Unlike a vegan, I can change a flat tire.
Her tire was flat. She was trying to go to meet her fiancé at the airport. He was coming home from Iraq that night.
“Can you help me?”
I changed her tire in the rain. She didn’t have an umbrella, but she did have a poster board that she held over me while I changed the tire. As I tightened up the last lug nut, I stood up. “Okay, you’re good to go.”
“How much do I owe you?”
“No, ma’am. That’s not why I did it. Go see your fiancé.”
I still feel good when I tell that story. And I’m not telling it to brag – any person reading this blog could have and would have done the same – I’m no more virtuous than any of you. But I am happy that I was there that night, to help that young girl get to the gate and throw her arms around her man as he came back from combat. The act of charity probably helped me more than it helped her – I know I remember it, but I’d bet she doesn’t. The fairy tale ended with her at the gate. The supporting characters (me, for instance) were lost in the arms of her man, details that won’t make the final version of the story she has told her children.
Which is how it should be.
Anyway, I agreed with the pastor when talked about charity. Helping people is good. But then the pastor continued, “And let us pray that Congress will act to give money to these poor people.”
He lost me right there.
Is it just me or does Jesus look a lot like Bruce Springsteen? I guess he is The Boss, after all.
I know that it’s probably a sin to be really, really pissed off in church, but there I was, in the second row, angry. And it’s probably a double-secret sin to be really, really pissed off at the Pastor. Thankfully, the church had just had a new roof installed so I was shielded from immediate lightning strikes from on high. And, if I’m being honest with you Internet, if a “stray” lightning bolt was going to hit me, it would have hit me far sooner than that day – being irritated with a Pastor is probably pretty low on my list of sinful behavior. Thankfully, Christianity has forgiveness embedded into it, because I certainly need it.
But why did I get so angry at the nice Pastor? Charity, when done by an individual is enriching. It helps both parties. It helps me. It helps tiny redheads with flat tires. It is an act that transcends – a willing gift to someone who will never be able to repay the gift to the giver.
Charity, when done by the government breeds resentment on those taxed. If they don’t want to participate in this charity, men with guns will come and take them to prison. Government forced charity breeds resentment of that very charity.
Billions, trillions? Doesn’t matter. It’s just other people’s money.
Government charity also breeds resentment by the recipient. Why didn’t they get more free stuff? It leads to bad incentives – why work when you’d lose the government benefits? The final straw is it destroys the dignity and independence of those that receive it. And if the program is set up poorly, it actually provides a disincentive for people to get or remain married. Government charity is certainly worse on the recipient than on the (unwilling) giver even though both of them come to hate the systems.
True charity makes two winners, government charity just manages to create anger and division. Government charity is the epitome of a program designed by Democrats – it takes a great goal (we all like the concept of charity) and turns it into a bureaucratic mess enforceable only through coercion and penalty.
If it stopped there with just that mess, it might be survivable.
Government has now opened these incentives to any person who can cross our border. Get across, and get free healthcare. Free food. Free housing. Need a cell phone? A ticket to Des Moines? We can help. Approximately four billion people would like to live in the United States because their countries suck. They can’t get nearly as much free stuff, and they’ve heard of the economic miracle of the United States.
Charity is like working – it’s great when other people do it!
This version of “charity” has created a group of millions of angry, unwilling donors, while at the same time creating millions of resentful, angry recipients. Thankfully, there is no reason we can’t have a billion resentful, angry recipients living in the United States tomorrow.
Sounds like another successful government program. Yay!
*By my spreadsheet, I had spent half the time I was ever going to spend with Pop Wilder by the age of eight. By the time I went off to college, I had spent about 94% of the hours I would ever spend with Pop. If I had moved back to the same town, or gone into the family business of firewood polishing together, obviously that would have been a different story. I’m only trying to note that these hours with family are precious, and are gone much faster than you might imagine. Feel free to use this to make your children feel guilty.
For your coloring enjoyment. Or colouring in Canada, eh.
Other than Revelation, I have always said that Acts chapters 2 and 4 are the most dangerous parts of the Bible because people without a smidgen of common sense or reading comprehension read about the people in the early church giving everything they own to the church and having “all things in common” and say “See, early Christianity was socialist!”. They always miss the presence of “voluntarily giving” and the absence of “Commissars with guns taking your stuff by force”. The longer the “charity” goes on, the more likely it is to lead to dependence and dependence leads to entitlement and that leads to resentment on both ends. In other words, it stops being charitable. That doesn’t stop people who worship Moloch and delight in killing unborn children from lecturing us on why socialism is our Christian obligation.
Other than Revelation, I have always said that Acts chapters 2 and 4 are the most dangerous parts of the Bible because people without a smidgen of common sense or reading comprehension read about the people in the early church giving everything they own to the church and having “all things in common” and say “See, early Christianity was socialist!”. They always miss the presence of “voluntarily giving” and the absence of “Commissars with guns taking your stuff by force”. The longer the “charity” goes on, the more likely it is to lead to dependence and dependence leads to entitlement and that leads to resentment on both ends. In other words, it stops being charitable. That doesn’t stop people who worship Moloch and delight in killing unborn children from lecturing us on why socialism is our Christian obligation.
I say, let as many as possible in for free crap. It will help the economic collapse and civil war along faster. A slow decline will just use up more resources. I ain’t getting any younger.
Turn up the heat, so the frog jumps before it is too late.
They tend to spike the ball before they get into the end zone. Let’s hope they play to tendencies.
There is some merit to that idea. We’ll keep them in (spins wheel) Canada.
Your pastor was desperately in need of correction.
I’m sure you’ve heard the story of how Davy Crockett learned a lesson with regard to government “charity”. I love the story and have read it several times. I don’t know how true it is, as Crockett was known as a good story teller, but it has the ring of truth, and the deeper meaning is inarguable.
If you haven’t seen it before, it can be found here: http://constitution.org/cons/crockett.htm
Good post, as usual. I also enjoyed the Terminator Jesus image.
That “Davy Crockett” story is full of good sense, but I am persuaded by the debate (linked from the story) that he never actually made the speech as described. That doesn’t make the argument wrong; it just changes the authorship.
Agreed, I view the story as a parable. Whether it happened as described is secondary.
Agreed.
I have heard that story – love it. In fact, I was thinking of it when the Pastor was preaching.
Thank you for that link. I might argue that i should be counted among the “educated” and yet Davy Crockett’s speech shows how there is quite a bit more to which i am woefully ignorant of!
“Charity comes out of the barrel of a gun.” – Chairman Mao
Also, being mad at a pastor isn’t a sin.
Especially an idiot. Probably one desperately in need of the 2×4 of Knowledge, but I digress.
When last I looked, Jesus didn’t have much use for fools either, and even less so for people who tried to dress up their foolishness in holy robes. Unless your version of Matthew 23 is different from mine.
Nothing the government does is “charity”. Nor ever could be.
On their best day they’re a pale imitation of Robin Hood, who – when all is said and done – was simply a thief.
Most days they’re Prince John, an even bigger thief with the patina of entitlement.
https://imgur.com/rH00bZs.jpg
Best if both of them were hung, pour encourager les autres.
The more so because not only is government charity like jumbo shrimp, rap music, and military intelligence (oxymorons one and all), it also violates the prime directive of legitimate government, which lives on a pretty thin slice of that pie.
They perform this pseudo-“charity” for one reason, and one reason only:
The government that robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on Paul’s vote.
100% agree about the vote purchasing. Which is one of the things I thought the Framers were against.
Just like happiness! Oh, that’s a warm gun.
I am waiting for a comment (maybe will include a picture of a tiny 29+ y/o redhead?? w/ hubby & kid(s) too??) saying something like “i’d like to say thank you again for changing my tire that night in Chicago back in July 27, 2005…”
This might sound far fetched and might never happen. And then there was one of Aesop’s postings about a wayward artillery shell (circa 1980’s??) that happened to land on a civilian’s car. The driver (a soldier’s wife) suffered a fatal head wound, despite heroics attempts that almost saved her life. Also in the car was her young daughter who was *physically* unhurt. And mixed in amongst other comments of that post was one that more or less said “that little girl…that was me”
Let’s see if i manage to post a few more reactions to this blog postings (should be MORE on-topic…i hope…)
Actually, the post was from the son of the guy who was first on scene with the little girl.
Who was two-degrees-of-separation butthurt because he thought (incorrectly) I was making light of the actual incident.
Still a bit statistically unlikely, but it goes to show it’s a big Internet.
Hi Aesop! i recall the *other* comments from the guy’s son, etc…heck, your original post was focused more on the artillery crew firing process anyway!
But unless i am imagining it…you posted a brand new blog maybe one or two years later basically saying “this is why i leave my comments open” and linked back to the original posts that included the comment from the now fully grown little girl…
Hmm, lemme see if i can find it….
Found it! In a post titled “come to Jesus full disclosure” (March 26, 2013) Sorry my iPhone-FU is barely passed the “proper stance” stages else i would add the hyper-link…the “little girl” signed her comment with the name -Carolyn… although this line of commenting is beginning to stray off the original topic!
Heh heh – I’m sure she doesn’t remember. She had far more important things on her mind.
I’ve always had a hard time fathoming charity, when it’s demanded at the point of a gun. The law calls that armed robbery. Government calls it taxes, and those that make the laws call it a job guarantee.
Bingo. It’s like charity . . . from the DMV.
Okay. I agree that a bureaucracy distributing mandatory charity inevitably misallocates capital and can often lead to more problems that it solves BUT, given that there is gross inequality of wealth and opportunity in America what should we do to try and ‘level the playing field’?
Is it right that a kid born in shitville with shit parents (and the wrong colored skin) should have a negligible chance to elevate themselves into the middle class and beyond?
Let’s face it, that same kid adopted in infancy to a professional, educated, moderately wealthy family would have a 95+% probability of following in the footsteps of the adoptive parents, with a negligible chance of entering the criminal justice system. Very few people are born as criminals or voluntarily choose poverty. Their life circumstances have a very strong influence on the direction their lives take. (Yeah, we can all present anecdotes of a few plucky souls who succeeded by hard work and good fortune in spite of a crappy start, but that’s not the way life goes for the vast majority).
So lots of people saying government enforced charity is a bad idea, easy to say, but what does the brain trust propose to ameliorate the current situation of grossly unequal opportunity from birth?
Community. Responsibility. Integrity. Self-respect.
None of that comes from government. Government is the cause of the inner-city mess you describe.
Nazis and Commies scream that there needs to be a civil war because of illegal immigrants, homosexuality, and marijuana, but no one cares that the US is a bankrupt warmongering police state.
While the USA is headed for a collapse, maybe the 99% should unite and fight the elites who are the real enemy instead of each other.
If Americans cannot be on the same page then why doesn’t the USA break up into 2 or 3 separate countries or why don’t all 50 states secede from Washington, DC?
Why don’t Americans try to convince the Gestapo and soldiers that they work for the bankers and that the Gestapo and soldiers are traitors to the 99%? Getting rid of the bankers would be easy if no one protected them.
Do you really want to kill your neighbor or cousin because they support homosexuality?
Are Americans unable to recognize hypocrisy?
Can anyone take the moral high ground now?
Can Commies see the hypocrisy of supporting marijuana while outlawing vaping?
Nazis hate Commies because Commies love free trade and illegal immigrants, but Fascists used to support free trade and illegal immigration.
Why was Obama an evil monster for defending Obamacare and gun bans, but Trump is a holy god for keeping Obamacare and supporting gun control?
WTF?
Would you kill someone because they wore the wrong color? Do you really support what you believe or are you just parroting your team talking points?
Would the USA really be a utopia if all the Jews, Muslims, females, queers, illegal aliens, and blacks were dead?
The first US Civil War was a pretty black and white issue. The South supported slavery and the North didn’t.
Civil War 2.0 wouldn’t be so clear-cut.
What would you do if you were Spanish during the Spanish Civil War or Chinese during the Chinese Civil War? Would you pick a side or leave?
The advantage of leaving the US now is that you might stay alive temporarily, but the danger of leaving the USA and not fighting is that Libertarians who flee to live in the Amazon, Siberia, or on a sailboat risk finding that tyranny might finally chase them down.