American Generosity
So the United States is stingy? Even $350 million doesn't qualify for a compliment or a "thank you" from anyone...except for the people most effected by the tsunami. Do the self-proclaimed critics think that the people of Aceh Province in Sumatra, the people of Phuket, Thailand or the coastal people of Sri Lanka aren't grateful?
I suppose these same folks analyzed the Christmas gifts they received last week, breaking down their value according to the net worth of the person who gave it. Let's see, that would make little Billy's shoehorn a more generous gift than Uncle Mel's round-trip tickets to Hawaii. Uncle Mel is soooo cheap!
Last night, while watching Fox News, a list of corporate donors scrolled across the bottom of the screen, "W" Corporation, $2.2 million; "X" incorporated, $2 million; "Y" & "Z" Corporations, $2.2 million each.....and on and on and on...
Personal donations to the Red Cross reached $100 million on Amazon.com after only two days.
I have already notified my church members that we will be taking a special offering for tsunami relief this Sunday. Our church will channel the offering through our PCUSA denomination to Church World Service. In my e-mail to our church's Prayer Chain I listed the CWS and World Vision web sites if folks didn't want to wait until Sunday.
Since I am technically on vacation, my conversations with church members have been less than usual. Even so, most of those I have talked to had already made a contribution to some major relief agency or another.
One reason the American private and corporate sectors can be so generous is because they are not taxed as heavily as most other Western nations.
In addition, our government is contributing far more than just dollars. It has sent a carrier group (the Abraham Lincoln) along with thousands of American troops, planes, helicopters, engineers, construction equipment and medical personnel. Many of the donations of emergency supplies from other countries are being transported and delivered by these same military men and women. None of this counts for anything amongst those folks once described by Spiro Agnew as "nattering nabobs of negativism." Agnew might have been a chump, but ever chumps can utter a memorable truism in an off moment.
It is a common truth that people who give generously do not criticize others who give. This is because true giving is something done freely, without obligation or compulsion. A genuine giver gives for the benefit of the other, not to make themselves look good. Jesus made this point a long time ago. Mr. Jan Egeland of the United Nations has raised Jesus' example of hypocrisy to an art form.
In any case, I am glad to see something, anything that has allowed Pakistan the opportunity to offer assistance to India. I am glad to see that Muslims, Hindus and Christians are working together with many national, international and religious agencies to get the aid to the right places and people in the shortest amount of time possible.
It would appear that, deep down, our common humanity is able to unite us in times of disaster. If only our common humanity would be able to unite us in the absence of a disaster! That would be real progress.
I suppose these same folks analyzed the Christmas gifts they received last week, breaking down their value according to the net worth of the person who gave it. Let's see, that would make little Billy's shoehorn a more generous gift than Uncle Mel's round-trip tickets to Hawaii. Uncle Mel is soooo cheap!
Last night, while watching Fox News, a list of corporate donors scrolled across the bottom of the screen, "W" Corporation, $2.2 million; "X" incorporated, $2 million; "Y" & "Z" Corporations, $2.2 million each.....and on and on and on...
Personal donations to the Red Cross reached $100 million on Amazon.com after only two days.
I have already notified my church members that we will be taking a special offering for tsunami relief this Sunday. Our church will channel the offering through our PCUSA denomination to Church World Service. In my e-mail to our church's Prayer Chain I listed the CWS and World Vision web sites if folks didn't want to wait until Sunday.
Since I am technically on vacation, my conversations with church members have been less than usual. Even so, most of those I have talked to had already made a contribution to some major relief agency or another.
One reason the American private and corporate sectors can be so generous is because they are not taxed as heavily as most other Western nations.
In addition, our government is contributing far more than just dollars. It has sent a carrier group (the Abraham Lincoln) along with thousands of American troops, planes, helicopters, engineers, construction equipment and medical personnel. Many of the donations of emergency supplies from other countries are being transported and delivered by these same military men and women. None of this counts for anything amongst those folks once described by Spiro Agnew as "nattering nabobs of negativism." Agnew might have been a chump, but ever chumps can utter a memorable truism in an off moment.
It is a common truth that people who give generously do not criticize others who give. This is because true giving is something done freely, without obligation or compulsion. A genuine giver gives for the benefit of the other, not to make themselves look good. Jesus made this point a long time ago. Mr. Jan Egeland of the United Nations has raised Jesus' example of hypocrisy to an art form.
In any case, I am glad to see something, anything that has allowed Pakistan the opportunity to offer assistance to India. I am glad to see that Muslims, Hindus and Christians are working together with many national, international and religious agencies to get the aid to the right places and people in the shortest amount of time possible.
It would appear that, deep down, our common humanity is able to unite us in times of disaster. If only our common humanity would be able to unite us in the absence of a disaster! That would be real progress.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 1:43 PM
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