Charity v. Justice

I have gotten in more than a few debates (sometimes internally, sometimes externally) over the question of charity versus justice. If you need a clear example of the issue, think of reparations for slavery or advocating for job creation instead of donating money. I don't always use the two terms in opposition. I don't really see them in opposition, and I don't want to play a semantics game. I want to examine the importance of SERVICE - of what service really means and how it can be both just (righting a wrong) and charitable (giving something you can afford to give). Is the act of service volunteering at a soup kitchen every week? Is it smiling at a frown to induce it to turn upside down? Is it washing a poor man's feet? Perhaps picking a stranger up off the ground?

I can't create a formula for service. I have no interest in rating one type of service as better or worse than another. I don't think utilitarian arguments or statistics involving effectiveness and productivity are what's important because not everyone who wants to serve others has the time or inclination to measure "success" in that way. Some people say "it's the thought that counts." Sounds good. But what if it's a bad thought? What if the man engaging in the service thought he might volunteer at a women's shelter in order to impress his girlfriend? Clearly the intention is important.

Is the intention more important than the result? Rather than get into a philosophical debate, I would offer that if you make the intention simple enough, you need not worry about a negative result. The intention I'm suggesting is to strive to make a human connection with someone who is desperately in need of that connection. This connection will almost certainly benefit both parties. It could be a vagabond, a widow, an orphan, a friend, or even a family member. The connection can be made through any means of communication. It can be done consistently or occasionally. It does not have to involve a material transaction of any kind.

This is based on the belief that what people really need from other individuals (I exclude governments, churches, and large organizations from this designation) is love and kindness. I just met a man who works at a Franciscan charity in San Francisco who used the words "respect" and "dignity" to describe how he felt the guests should be treated by the volunteers. All these words are closely linked. Unfortunately many people are not shown enough love, kindness, or respect in their lives, least of all those who are most dependent on charity. Love and kindness are what sustain people in the long run. Giving people food, water, and shelter is, in the end, only helping them survive another few days - and most of us lack the resources to provide much in the way of food and shelter to anyone but ourselves and our immediate family.

But we do not lack the resources to bestow kindness on every stranger we happen to meet, whether in the midst of planned service or during our daily routine. We do not lack the resources to smile at them and laugh with them. We can show them the same respect we would want for ourselves at no cost. We can help them feel a sense of dignity by "listening them into existence," as a good friend of mine likes to say, and we can do it without having to worry about them using our kindness to buy drugs instead of food.