WHEN WE GO OUT TO HELP OTHERS
“That charity, which longs to publish itself,
ceases to be charity.”
Eliza Cook
There
is this temptation in almost all of us to tell – and tell it as loudly as
possible – how generous, how helpful, how noble we are… Yes, because of our charitable
work. Top to bottom – from our Prime Minister to the man on the street - yes,
all of us seem to love the optics. When we help someone, we want the world to
know about our generosity. That means, we do not want any of our ‘noble’ thoughts
and deeds just go like a ship by the night… We want to cash on it… We want to trumpet
it, flash it as loudly and as brightly as possible…
And, get some
strange ‘kick’ out of it: “Wow!” … “Kudos!” … “Great Work!” … “GBU!” … and so
on.
These are times
of distress for all of us… Distress of one kind or the other. Many of us have
food to eat, but, no helping hands, perhaps. Our once helping-hands have no
food to eat, perhaps. Some of us are in distress, because our ailing-and- aged
parents are helpless hundreds of miles away from us. Many of us – almost all –
are silently suffering from an anxiety disorder: ‘How will we survive tomorrow?”
So, all of us
need help and all of us are expected to help… share our bread and share our dwindling
joy. When that’s what is our reality, today, why this desire in us to trumpet
and flash our so-called ‘charitable work’? Why this obsession for the optics?
As all and sundry
are busy doing their ‘publicity’, some send the advice:
“When you go out
to help the needy, leave your mobile phones at home!”
But, does anyone
listen to this advice?
The Master gave
the same advice, more than two thousand years ago, when there weren’t any
mobile phones:
“Let your left
hand not know what your right hand gives”!
Those who help –
and so many do – they do it quietly. And, I think, the Kingdom of God really
belongs to them… Even though the Master did not say this in his Sermon on the
Mount!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Video: Naik Foundation
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