How Should We Give?

In a wallowing economy people tend to tie up their purse strings and sit on their wallets. This is how they remain unless something is needed for the person or for those who are important to them. Everyone wants to benefit from an dollar expenditure. Even when taxes are paid they want to make sure that they are paying for services that will benefit them. This inherent need to survive grows with a lack of resources and increased competition. In times like these people fight against any loss of their money, especially if it goes to help others and not themselves.

Near the end of this summer, I had the most tedious privilege of waiting for my car's windshield to be fixed. As I sat in the waiting room studying for an upcoming test, I listened to a conversation between a male receptionist and a man also there waiting for his car. They spoke about their lives, discussed the military and then landed the issue of welfare. The man waiting was livid that our president would allow his tax dollars to aid the poor (who apparently did not work for them)and for immigrants who he thought should go back to their home countries. I was floored by this idea. We all pay for the up keep of roads in our states and towns yet we do not use them all. We pay for the education of children yet we don't all have children and are not all in school. Yet why is it that we fight to pay a little so that people can at least get above the poverty line; people who often have not had the same opportunities or privileges that many of us have benefited from.

Although, many believe that the government is taking their arm and leg just to help someone else live easy, they do not realize that those tax dollars are not enough. It covers just their basic needs, and if one of the people living with the welfare gets a even a few cents raise they could be kicked off welfare and thrown into a worse situation than they had been before. So even though we may think that taxes are enough they truly fall short.

I believe, we as humans (not even just as Christians) need to give time and money (outside of taxes) to help increase a persons economic, social, and economic status. We need to donate money to organizations that are trying hard to give people opportunities or a service that they cannot afford. Through these programs people have been able to improve their economic status and climbed out of the hole that they might have been in. We also need to take part in service realizing where our money is going and also creating connections with people. These connections give people strength. Isn't this what Jesus would want us to do love our neighbor with the giving of our resources and most of all with our time.