Antidote to Mortality
November 17, 2008
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” –Albert Pike
Tell It Like It Is
July 23, 2008
“Having leveled my palace, don’t erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home.”
–Heathcliff, in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Go the Untied Way in May
May 8, 2008
“Go to your ATM and take out some money. How much money is entirely your business, but the sum should be sufficient for you to notice its absence. It shouldn’t hurt, but maybe it should pinch a little.
Take your money to an area of town where there are people who seek funds from passing strangers… When someone asks you for money, you give him $20. You repeat this until you are out of $20 bills…
You might expect gratitude from your clients, but you may not get it. Some of your clients may not process the denomination of the contribution, and therefore your special virtue will go unremarked. Sometimes, alas, your clients will say insulting or incomprehensible things to you. Other times, they may be overly grateful, and follow you down the street asking in stentorian tones for God to bless you. The Untied Way is not a particularly comfortable charity.
Sometimes people ask: Won’t the Untied Way clients use their money foolishly? Won’t they buy drugs or cheap booze or unsavory companionship? And the answer is: Yes, they might. Have you ever spent your money foolishly? Have you ever behaved unwisely? Untied Way clients are human beings like you.
Sometimes people ask: Are the Untied Way clients worthy of these donations? What does “worthy” mean? How much suffering would you want them to have? How much virtue do you feel is appropriate? It’s like this: You can spend your time determining the eligibility of clients, asking them to fill out questionnaires and describe what other kinds of financial assistance they are receiving, or you can give them money and move on. The second way is more efficient.
It is the assumption of the Untied Way that people on the streets who ask for money need the money. It is not an occupation that people aspire to. The people on the streets are not middle managers seeking to supplement their incomes. They need money, and you have money. Maybe they are reduced to asking for money because they made foolish choices, but again: There but for the grace of God go you.”
–Jon Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
Dickensian Do-Gooding
April 8, 2008
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
–Charles Dickens
Look up some burden-lightening charities in the High Class Blogs directory.
Give it Up
March 30, 2008
“He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.”
Shares of Success
March 24, 2008
“You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.”
–Albert Camus
Love for Limerick
March 17, 2008
“F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I’ve proven him wrong. And all because I refused to settle for a one-act existence, the 30 years I taught English in various New York City high schools.”
–Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis and donor of The Leonard Collection to the University of Limerick Library
McCourt also supports “the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Ireland who kept my family alive in Limerick. I’ve been a supporter for 20 years. I used to send them $50 when I was a teacher.”
Soul Influence
February 28, 2008
“Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.”
–George Eliot
Unsung Givers
February 25, 2008
“To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.”
The Anti-Clot
February 16, 2008
“This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can.”
