Where charity begins!

With a disaster like the Haitian earthquake so close at hand I am shocked about how often I am distracted by nothing. Like wondering what I am going to watch on TV, or what's for dinner tonight!

But there is an issue of greater importance which is how might we, the unaffected, actually respond. So often the enormity of such tragedies gives us an excuse to actually do nothing.

I kept thinking yesterday that even if I give a lot (in my paltry terms) it will be nothing, and this tragedy will need to be responded to by the massive aid that can probably only be given by nations, so why should I give anything? This is of course an excuse. I need to remind myself that giving is the way we have of combatting our natural tendency to selfishness.

Nothing could be closer to the heart of Christianity (or Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism for that matter) than that giving is good for our humanity.

Then the next series of excuses checks in.

Who shall I give to?

There will no doubt be plenty of articles in coming weeks about good and bad things that have happened to donations. It is the nature of the beast that this exercise will be deeply flawed.

There is a fairly lightweight article here (it is on the MTV site after all) which makes some observations about this sort of decision making process, and what is happening to funds. I think the thing that strikes me in such a circumstance is that if we manage to confront our inability to give and actually decide to donate then what our giving does is allow the agency to free up funds so that it can de deployed with some promptness.

We will need to decide for ourselves where our small dollars might go. The above article suggests that it is probably best to go with the bigger agencies in the case of a disaster like this, I think I concur with this.

In the end that human/religious principle... do to others what you want to have done to you....

might cause us to ask what we would like others to do for us if we were subject to earthquake, flood or fire.

I list below some agencies for your consideration:

• Medecins sans Frontieres -Doctors without borders (here)
• Red Cross (here) [Donations can also be made to Red Cross through iTunes]
• World Vision (here)
• Anglican Board of Mission (through Episcopal Relief)(here)

Do not call

Last week I (reluctantly) decided that I was not going to give money over the telephone any more. Whether it be for Leukemia, Guide Dogs, Epilepsy...raffle tickets, or raffia baskets.. I seemed to have a bundle of phone calls and just felt uneasy.

The Leukemia one just made me feel uneasy..and I thought I actually have no idea whether the money ends up there or not. The following day I got a phone call from Guide Dogs...who I also have supported in the past, but it actually sounded like the same person who had rung me the day before. It may or may not have been. And of course we all know about call centres.

Finally I rang and registered with http://www.donotcall.gov.au/ so I will be interested to see if it works. Haven't so far had any more calls after having had at least one every day for the last week.

I think we should give to charities...probably more than we do...but (for me at least) it's going to require a bit more thought.

Weekly curiosities

In a mixed week there are numerous things to think about as it draws to a close. As with all these things they are of mixed importance and quality, but here goes:

• In a week in which it looked as though we were having real political debate in the Federal Parliament we descended into name calling. I was enjoying the toing and froing about what is happening with regard to the war in Iraq, and the coal vs.nuclear power debate.
• BUT inevitably when the Opposition started to make inroads we now find ourselves discussing why Mr Squeaky Clean Rudd was meeting with Mr Nasty Western Australia Burke. Well done to Rudd for not trying to brazen it out but rather to admit that it was a mistake. I don't imagine the electorate will be so forgiving.
• The arrival of Ms Maxine McKew on the scene has brought a little leaven to the lump. One can only think that the next election will be more interesting with her presence along with Malcolm Turnbull, and Peter Garrett. My great fear is that these high-calibre high-profile won't become disillusioned with the ridiculous antics of the pollies which the Costellos, Albaneses, Pines, Abbotts and Swanns of this world seem so skilled at.
• Surprise, surprise the solution to our water problems..The Wellington Weir..which was going to cost $20 million (not!) is now going to cost six times that and indeed as it is supposed to be removed..it is going to cost more than the original cost to remove!!

• Further conversatioin with ecumenical colleagues yesterday clearly demonstrated that everyone was experiencing a massive increase in off the street callers seeking handouts . One of my fellow ministers made the observation that recent publicity about central city agencies (eg. The Magdalene Centre, and other agencies) having nothing on the shelves may well have precipitated this. I doubt an exact correlation but it is a contributing factor. It raises the question about what is the nature of our Brave New World which is now having systemic dysfunction flowing through to me!...I suppose I need to grow up and stopping being so naive.

• I had the curious experience in trying to deal with the after effects of the fire at St John's of seeking to ensure that things proceeded apace. My goal has been to try and ensure that everything like this happens twice as fast as it has normally done. [This might mean that things get done at only slightly slower than it should actually take] Part of this involved making an appointment with a senior churchman who needed to be consulted about changes that may need to be made. It took ten days to finalise the actual appointment time. In my last discussion with his secretary I was offered two times, one of which was a semi-spontaneous offerto appear on a Sunday morning. It seemed strange to me that in grappling with getting a time, such a prime time was being offered ...normally we would want to be more prpeared. Maybe we shouldn't need to be. But that's sort of the way it goes. When honoured guests come to visit you want to do it right. Changing times.
• Also I have been having thoughts and some preliminary discussions about the desire of another Anglican parish wanting to plant a congregation within the parish I serve. (Not wanting to join our parish but be separate).The more I think about this, the more it troubles me. We are having a fundamental shift in the name of trying to find modern responses to changed circumstances. As with all these things we need to be pretty careful about babies and bath water
  

• Further, and more importantly we have another family baby to protect. Zara (new great niece) is presently staying at the Adelaide Hilton. These days its cheaper to keep mother and baby in luxury than in the hospital!! Crikey Moshe!! Hope mother and baby don't get thrown out with the spa water!
  

On being charitable

I've written before about the dilemma we find ourselves in when confronted with the need to be charitable (here). I understand that you cannot win. Even when you are generous you will often have the nagging doubt that you have just fallen into someone's trap. So I try to sit lightly with the whole idea of what to do when people come-a-knocking.
A curious series of event has taken place in the last couple of days. I was approached by a person who dropped-in for some help. This happens from time to time, maybe one or two a month. He seemed genuine enough so I gave him a small amount of money. [ It was Ash Wednesday and I had just read about giving to the poor...it all seemed a bit too spooky].
Let me make it clear. In my mind a small amount of money solves little. It makes the problem go away, and he did.

[By way of sidetrack I had a colleague whose reponse to any such request was ...I give everyone $5, that's what I tell them "we give $5!!"... the most that can be said about such a strategy is that it does indeed make the problem go away. In fact you don't actually have to intersect with the depth of the problem at all because ....we give everyone $5!]

So back to the tale. I gave P small amount of money and he went away happy.
Less than 24 hours later there was another request from another person, and my colleague did likewise and had also given a couple of cans of food.
Then yesterday I arrived home after the morning bus run to find a young man on the doortstep with a tale of woe. The story was well-rehearsed and he was even clutching documentary evidence....at one stage he gave me what seemed like an obviously forged Centrelink document...but what would I know ( it looked like a coloured copy off a printer, with the dates changed etc. etc.). He had health problems, he had food problems and accomodation problems.
I could help with the food, but in the end although he said "That would be great"he wasn't terribly interested in the food.
The story got more and more convoluted and I obviously didn't understand what he told me. (Clearly it was money that he wanted and by and large we don't even give $5 we just say no money)
It seemed strange to have a third caller in such a short space of time...had word got around that the priest was a soft touch?
I made a number of suggestions, and each one was met with "that won't work I've tried it"....while that is a warning signal it is also something of the truth.
I wanted to give him $5 and make him go away!
In the end he just kept pushing my buttons, (was I so hard that I actually made him do this) and what little generosity I have began to leak out of the bath tub of my emotion with each attack. He finally got quite angry, and I was conscious of a daughter asleep in a nearby bedroom. I was aware too that I was here with a young unbalanced man without any nearby persons and there were all sorts of vulnerabilities flooding in.
He made the decision for himself, when he walked away and shouted "Why are people so heartless?"...which is enough to push most priestly buttons! I tried to reengage and told
him again about how he had to access more significant help through the system (he would probably have already exhausted this outlet)....."The system is wrong" "I know and that's too bad...I agree with you...but it's the way things are." "Well it shouldn't be!"
He was now pushing my Marxist buttons! I agreed with him; and bar having a revolution there was nought I could do.
I was, as you can tell, quite disturbed by this encounter. In Morning Prayers P&I discussed this...had I made another mistake ...was I being challenged to entertain angels unawares?
She and I can certainly make ourselves doubt our response, we try to encourage each other to be charitable and open
Or had the word just got around?
During prayers another guy came in...who we made to wait because we were doing more important things!
"I hear," he said, "that you are one of the only churches that give out food"
The truth is that we had none left...it takes little to drain our meagre resources

There is no solution to any of this. It is a dilemma. Even if these people are rorting the system,what sort of system or society is it that has such people in it, and reduces people to the humiliation of begging.
There is much more to say...but enough for today I think

On being a cad

I had an attack of charitable cowardice the other day. A young girl came to to the door and thrust a "Save the Children" pamphlet into my face. I am normally defensive about doorknowcking charity seekers, though I respect "Save the Children"
Conscious of the fact that I have a bit of Christmas money destined for charity sitting in my pocket, this seemd like a good thing to pursue.
It was stinking hot. The girl assured me that she was not collecting money now. So I decided that this would be good to support. But I was ready to hand over $40 cash
OK she said....let me see your driving licence.
"Why?" I asked. But she didn't seem to hear.then she flung open a giant form which wanted credit card details and direct debit etc. etc.....
So I said "No thank you!"

After all this was all happening at the doorstep, unsolicited. .She looked astonished and uncomprehending
I do feel like a cad sometimes when I reneg on being charitable. But the more I've written this, the more I think I was prudent. I am inclined to think we will aim for a $20 or $30/month project...but I am blowed if I am going to do it on a stinking hot day, unsolicited at the doorstep.
Was I mean? Am I a cad?