Give Them A Finger And They Demand The Whole Arm

Charity may be among the three essential virtues which Apostle Paul wrote in the Book Of Corinthians, but too much of it is a mockery of the actual virtue and is very much dangerous.

In the minds of some there are only two kinds of people, the haves and the have-nots. If we play by their rules, the world continuously revolves around money, therefore the have-nots are at a disadvantage to the haves. However in the real God-created world, the aforementioned virtue of charity is still present in the hearts of His children and that’s why there a lot of instances wherein the haves willingly help the have-nots.

Christians in particular, are known for charitable works. Christians are reared since childhood that to be merciful and therefore charitable to the poor is good and indicative of obedience to God. Whether they be Catholic, Protestant or any other denomination, the virtue of charity is inherent in their religious doctrines.

It would seem like a perfect set-up at the outset; with charity being present in the hearts of the many who share Christian values, then this world is a better place knowing that the haves are able to provide help to the long-suffering have-nots.

That of course, as we all know, is baloney. As is written in the Holy Scriptures that the god of this world is Lucifer himself, then there is no reason why he should not have his own contrast to the virtue of charity. This contrast comes in the form of greed.

Greed is not just something that could be related to rich people. Greed comes in many figures- there is greed when it comes to food, riches, power and really, any such desire that is excessive and oppressive to one’s fellow human being.

With that being said, greed is far from how the ideological left depicts it to be; greed as the leftists know it consists of three elements, one, the rich few, two, the money, and three, the hapless poor. This is a blatant form of propaganda which poisoned the minds of a whole lot of people for many generations. This kind of thinking controlled significant events in the histories of nations, and if I were to be more specific, I am referring to how this poisonous way of thinking ignited the Filipinos to gather up at EDSA and overthrow the best leader that the Philippines ever had, which was Ferdinand Marcos.

In that case, people were manipulated not only in believing the leftist lie that greed is composed only of those three elements mentioned above, but also the former were led into thinking that a person is made up of his mistakes, that his achievements and his good deeds could simply be relegated as ‘accidents’ to his existence.

Once again, to cite Marcos as an example, one would have to be blind if they don’t recognize that the programs initiated by his regime are as helpful to the Filipinos now as when they were first started decades ago. I could put on a long list of those but that is not the topic of this post; however to give a good idea of how excellent a president Marcos was, one need only ask an elderly person in their 60’s or 70’s to know that the country’s situation back in the Marcos era was far better, the economy stronger, and society more disciplined.

Unfortunately the detractors who claim that there are only three elements to greed conjured up their grand plan to eradicate a great leader for their own selfish motivations. That, in itself is a more hideous form of greed.

One may be quite scandalized to know that the poor, albeit lacking in worldly and intellectual possessions, are actually capable of being greedier than those who are privileged. If being content with what one has is a contest, then the poor would most likely be the losers. This is not saying that one ought not to dream for a better future, but a lot of poor people sad to say, take to the extreme and resort to crimes in order to satisfy their wants.

Rich people of course are not exempted in crimes that involve stealing as is evidenced by corrupt politicians, but that’s another story. Poor people however are more likely to steal as a way of living to cover up what lack of education resulted to: that is, unemployment.

In a third-world country like the Philippines crimes involving greed are rampant in daily news. Greed in the form of stealing, raping, kidnapping, etc. People, especially the poor, are craving for something way more than what they have. The problem is that they, due to lack of education are not aware of a term called self-control resulting in urges not kept in check that eventually lead to senseless crimes.

Now this is not in any way suggesting that all the blame for the faults of society lies with the poor, nor does it condone oppression of the poor, but instead it wishes to point out that greed is not only the vice of the rich.

The rich people, or at the very least those who have enough to survive, are not closed when it comes to giving; there are charitable institutions everywhere that offer quite a few things for free including scholarships, medical assistance, jobs, business training and others that intend to help people improve their quality of living. That’s the good news.

The bad news, on the other hand, is that sometimes this good intention is still not good enough for those who know not contentment.

Some poor people could be described as greedy and avaricious. This fact is really disturbing since they’re supposed to be the faces of how sacrifice and patience ought to look like. They sometimes even have the guts to refuse offered help because they think that they deserve better. While sometimes that may be the case, it doesn’t erase the fact that a helping hand with the best of intentions is still a helping hand with the best of intentions. The point is, the right thing to do is to at least say thank you and appreciate the thought behind the act even if the help given is not exactly one which satisfies the desire of the other.

There are some too who demand for assistance when they know it themselves that they can do well on their own. This too, is another form of greed. People like this are sneaky and they cruelly manipulate everything to meet their own ends. Some poor people too exhibit this characteristic. They would pretend to be worse off than they actually are in the effort to milk their victim or cash cow for all its worth.

This particular type of poor people are without conscience and it would take a miracle to get them to straighten their ways. Simply put, they are criminals whose sins are yet to be deemed punishable by law.

You give them a finger with the noblest of intentions, and they come marching right back demanding for your entire arm. Isn’t that how it usually goes?

Greed. It’s a complicated situation for all of us; there’s a part of us which upholds charity, but there’s also a part of us not willing to be victimized by somebody else’s greed. That’s why in conclusion charity, while good, has to be moderated so as not to be abused. After all, too much of a good thing eventually becomes dangerous.