It’s good to feed the hungry. All other things being equal, few would consider such charity to be ignoble. Unfortunately, things are not always equal, and even ordinarily benevolent actions can either fall short of true charity or be twisted into wrongdoing. Perhaps the corruptions of charity most familiar to conservatives occur when people are generous with others’ goods instead of their own, or when they think voting for politicians is a substitute for actually helping the needy they encounter.
However, charity can just as easily go off the rails through a failure of practical wisdom. It would, for example, be foolish to try and feed the hungry with seed corn—the grain reserved for planting next year’s crops that will ultimately continue to feed the hungry for generations. No matter how badly one might feel for the hungry, it would be wicked to impose starvation on everyone to feed a few for a day.
Such an action would be sentimentalism rather than compassion—more about making one feel good than actually helping the hungry. Although it might feel loving at the time, it would be detrimental toward all those who would be deprived of sustenance as a result. The kind of abundance of food that can broaden the reach of generosity is not accidental. To disregard the established patterns of sowing and reaping for the whims of sentiment is to wind up without a crop.
Many Value Our Wealth, But Not the Ideas that Create It
It is unfortunate that such logic—so obvious when it comes to agriculture—has been lost among both the Left and the Right regarding mass migration. Like an abundance of food, the kind of prosperity that attracts people to the West is not accidental. It grew out of our traditions of placing...Read The Rest HERE
However, charity can just as easily go off the rails through a failure of practical wisdom. It would, for example, be foolish to try and feed the hungry with seed corn—the grain reserved for planting next year’s crops that will ultimately continue to feed the hungry for generations. No matter how badly one might feel for the hungry, it would be wicked to impose starvation on everyone to feed a few for a day.
Such an action would be sentimentalism rather than compassion—more about making one feel good than actually helping the hungry. Although it might feel loving at the time, it would be detrimental toward all those who would be deprived of sustenance as a result. The kind of abundance of food that can broaden the reach of generosity is not accidental. To disregard the established patterns of sowing and reaping for the whims of sentiment is to wind up without a crop.
Many Value Our Wealth, But Not the Ideas that Create It
It is unfortunate that such logic—so obvious when it comes to agriculture—has been lost among both the Left and the Right regarding mass migration. Like an abundance of food, the kind of prosperity that attracts people to the West is not accidental. It grew out of our traditions of placing...Read The Rest HERE
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