I find that I turn a little Ebenezer Scrooge at Christmas time. As much as it also reminds me to reach out, do good, and be kinder, it also seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator and the kinds of people who leverage Christian charity for selfish reasons. I can never tell who needs help and who is hoping to convince me to give them my money despite their opulence because they can abuse my religious beliefs to their own gain. If they do, that's on them; if I don't give, well, that is on me, so I try to find ways and causes to support all year so that I can acquit myself rightly before God that I made an effort all year in big ways and small to lift where I stand. It's not like the burden falls entirely on me, but some of it does. In fact, I believe that often God doesn't intervene not because He cannot or does not care but because WE know, and He intends for us to discover whether or not we actually have the desire to practice what we preach. See a need? Fill a need. You don't have to give someone $15,000 for facial reconstructive surgery if you don't have it, but you can babysit their kids, take them meals, feed their fish, buy them a new couch, or a million other things that add up to fill their need. God loves us and watches over us, and it is often through other people that He meets our needs. Sometimes, however, the people who appear to be needy and demand my help make me feel like it's legitimate for me to channel Ebenezer and find a different way to help than the petitioner at my door demands.
Far too many people at Christmas are actually selfish. Of course, we all think of those who demand more and more gifts, for whom the holiday is about nothing more than being able to brag after Christmas to their mates that they have more presents or better presents. However, a lot of the recipients or organizations that compete for our Christian charity are just as selfish. You will hear John Denver's "So This is Christmas" which has nothing to do with Christmas besides mentioning it in the lyrics, and you will see the ASPCA talk about the poor freezing animals as if saving animals excuses you from not acting to save humans, to the St Jude Cancer Hospital and its sick kids, who are sick all year, as if Cancer only happens for Christmas. These are essentially nothing more than the logical fallacy "appeal to pity", and they leverage Christmas to fill their coffers. It seems like, although there are quite a few panhandlers on my regular commute all year, they multiply at Christmas. This Christmas, they turned the easement behind my house into a highway, and they routinely cut the fences and chains locking it shut because it interfered with their access to the shanties they build beneath the bridges. This costs us money, and it's also very disconcerting to know that homeless people are traversing the alley behind your house all night long. Unlike their compatriots the rest of the year, these panhandlers look even more dissheveled and pathetic. The one that really irked me was the kid trying to sell me a snickers bar for $2.00 (which is twice what the grocery store in front of which she stood was asking), who went and climbed in a Cadillac Escalade after I told her I didn't have any cash. Sell the damn car if you're hard up for money. It seems like people demand assistance who don't need it but because they think they can get money just for asking and that other people demand my assistance when they made no provisions of their own, much like the grasshopper and the ant. You know Christmas is coming, and you don't set aside money for it or put things on layaway so your kids can have Christmas? I mean sometimes tragedies strike, like in Christmas for Carole, but seriously, save for a rainy day and don't expect I owe you a living because I didn't spend all my money in riotous living.
I can never tell at Christmas who actually needs help, so I give on two conditions only. First off, I will give directly to people I know who are properly vetted (like in the aforementioned case of a Christmas for Carole). Secondly, I donate to organizations that give money predominantly to the causes they espouse. I also spend time weekly feeding the homeless myself, so I actually know some of them by sight or name, and I know which ones are legitimate, because they will actually call out pretenders among their ranks if they know it's a ruse. Elsewhere, the charlatans come out in droves. Since this is a time when want is keenly felt and people feel more charitable, it's also the most likely time to get someone to help you even if you don't need it or deserve it. They sell you sad stories, stand with signs forlornly at street corners, and the like. However, since I walk many of my errands, I also know where the legitimately homeless are likely to sleep, and from time to time I give them water or victuals or in very rare cases cash, because I know if you're sleeping behind the Centurylink box, you're probably not pretending. People don't do that for fun. It's not just individuals, but groups practice in the same piratical effort to illegitimately separate you from your money and labor. Just before Christmas, I saw an infographic detailing all the "charitable" organizations that only pass on paltry portions of donated funds to actually help others. Many of the common charities either pass on paltry portions to the causes they espouse, others pay king's ransoms in salaries to their executives, and some of them sell what you give them entirely FOR PROFIT. I even read that the Democrat party is trying to pass legislation declaring state and local taxes to be "charitable giving". If it's compelled by law, how exactly is that charitable? God knows we all wonder if the people who get money from welfare really need it, and my family members who work in law enforcement tell me there's a lion's share of welfare fraud out there. Who knew? Find a cause to support that helps in ways you value, and give them generously of your excess, and then settle your soul about it.
When I refuse to help, many people jump to the conclusion that because I do not help them I must not care about anyone else anywhere for any reason. This reducto ad absurdium concludes that if I don't help you then I must not be interested in helping anyone and that I never have and never will. Well, isn't that just selfish? It's also ignorant. Even if I walked down the street with twenty $1 notes in my billfold and gave everyone who asked $1, the 21st person would be disappointed, not because I didn't intend to help people, but because they were too late. Why is that my fault? If you're hungry, there are other people doing things in other places, and if you have a legitimate need, I'm not above going in and charging it to my Visa, but if you demand cash and then are upset because I won't ATM $20 for you, then you're just being unreasonable. The virtue of gratitude is charity's close cousin. If you don't show gratitude, then maybe you don't deserve charity. Some people actually spout profanity at me when I tell them I don't have any cash. Well, I got mugged in May 2016, and so I stopped carrying things in my pocket that I don't need so that if it happens again I'm not out $400 or whatever. Sometimes people get that and are ok with a ride or taking my extra burrito that I was going to have for lunch tomorrow. I think the legitimately needy actually mean it when they say "Anything helps", because I've seen people accept what I do have to give. It's sort of Peter of me: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee." I do care. I do not plan on giving away hundreds every day to abject strangers who happen to ask me. I actually start the season with a budget of money I can afford to give away to other people in need, and like every budget I make, I stick to it, and when it's out, I don't have any more to give. These ingrates however maintain that if you are not giving all that you have, you might as well not get credited as having given anything at all. Even if the richest person gave away all of his wealth today equally distributed across the globe, we'd all end up with $14 each which is actually pathetic and would leave him bankrupt and poor too (Jeff Bezos net worth is $98.6Billion), and people would complain. Hell, we stand to do better from the Trump Tax Cuts, and people are pissed about that. Some people act like I never help anyone. Even though I have helped people out, some to a great degree financially, the current pleader acts as if I'm completely uncharitable because I won't give something to them.
At Christmas, there is legitimate need, and there are legitimate organizations to whom you can give and still help. The truly homeless know where to go if they need necessities like food and shelter, they just sometimes want money to buy booze and drugs which they can't get at those places. Las Vegas has a shelter for the homeless and the Catholic Diocese serves meals. Other churches and the Harley group to which I belong feed them too. On an individual case, you need to trust your feelings, and if you have any doubts, donate to one of those groups where the needy are vetted and benefit directly which will slake your guilt. You do not have to give to the beggar in front of your necessarily, but you can give to an organization that will help him instead. Even as a child I remember seeing signs at Temple Square in Salt Lake City abjuring visitors from giving money to the petitioners on the plaza because Welfare Square was within walking distance, and these people are not legitimate. You don't know if you're getting scammed by a kindergartener. Find a cause that does a good job, and support them. Ebenezer comes from the Hebrew name Eben ha-Ezer meaning "Stone of Help". It is ok to be firm as a stone about how and whom you help, but if you want to channel Ebenezer, you must also help. I watch Scrooge every year with my family because it reminds me to be a little more like that Rock of Ages and do a little more to show that I appreciate the Atoning sacrifice of Christ at Gethsemane. Be a stone. Cause an avalanche of good change. Stand firm against the wrong and roll steadfastly towards the right. There are ways to legitimately be Ebenezer at Christmas. May you find yours and may you also learn by finding ways to lose your life in the service of the Stone how ultimately to find your own life again. Godspeed, and may 2018 be a great year for you and yours.
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