Charity: Begging and Old English Means Essay

The word kindliness, by derivation and in superannuated slope means love. But in ordinary modern English it means almsgiving, and in this short essay we must confine ourselves to the subsequently and narrower meaning of the word.Charity in this sense is a virtue extensively practiced and highly esteemed in the East. In India, foregoing to Independence, it was a common practice for kings and flush men to weigh themselves against gold and silver and to distribute the proceeds among the poor.This was done by Shivaji, and many others before and subsequently his time. We hold in most of our large cities fine monuments of munificent benevolence in the university buildings, colleges, hospitals, convalescent homes and water-fountains, built wholly or partially at the expense of profuse citizens, who chose this practical way of showing their love for their native city.But it must be remembered that it is net only the rich that have the power of being tender. The Mahabharata tells us thatJust Heaven is non so pleased with costly gifts,Offered in hope of future recompense,As with the merest spend set apart,From honest gains and sanctified by faith,and that the man who is not rich but yet crowd out give, will be exalted supra the heavens. Very often the munificent gifts of rich men are do for purposes of ostentation or as a means of gaining favour with Government.The beat out charity is that which is done in secret, so that, in the expressive haggle of the Gospel, the left hand does not know what the right hand does.It is in truth necessary to exercise discrimination in the giving of alms. The great prey of charity is to relieve misery, and indiscriminate charity, by encouraging the trade of begging, actually adds to the misery of the world.If it were not for the reckless charity of well meaning men, who withdraw it a duty to give a small alms to every defy they come across, many who now lead a miserable humankind as beggars would take to honest wor k, and become profitable members of society. As Monier Williams Indian Wisdom.Things are, they prefer to live an idle life of degradation, and some of them, by begging and imposture, make more money than an honest poor man can earn by hard labour. Such being the case, it is no ask that so many beggars infest the streets of Bombay and other rich cities.A rich man who is really determined to do good with his money, should either envision out for himself what poor men really deserve help, or, if he has not time to do so, he should give his alms through some charitable society, that has officers appointed for the special purpose of distinguishing between the deserving poor and bodacious impostors.There are also some who require to be reminded that charity begins at home, and that they must not deprive themselves of the means of supporting their own family by profuse charity to strangers who have less claims upon them.These, then, are the two principal limits to observe in the duty of almsgiving. We must recognize the prior obligation of providing for the necessities of our own family, and we must take care lest by stupid distribution of alms we encourage beggary and improvidence with its attendant miseries.Charity would come along to be least exposed to the second danger, when a subscription is made for doomed persons suddenly reduced to ruin by an earthquake, or a storm, or any other calamity against which no foresight could have defended them.For in such cases there is very great distress to be palliate in the present, and there is little fear of the help given take in the future to ruinous improvidence or extravagance.