[ExI] christmas songs 2

[Mike Dougherty]

On Dec 11, 2007 2:03 AM, Seien <seienchan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Uhh... sorry, did I not say food and drink first? The amount of money one
> would give a beggar would cover things ON THE LEVEL of food, drink or
> cigarettes. I mean, it would also cover things like small paperback books
> and stationery, but they're more likely to buy things like food/drink/cigs.
>
>

I just imagined ET's looking down at earth saying things like, "Sure, we
could show them how to access cheap personal fusion reactions - but they'd
probably just use that energy to drive to work or watch TV, so lets not give
it to them until they're more mature."

I think worrying about what the person uses your charity for is missing the
point of charity.  If you can spare that money and you willingly give it to
someone who doesn't have any, can you call it charity if you put
restrictions on how it is used?  I grant that you have a right to buy
someone's behavior with your money, but that's not charity.  I also see your
point about using your resources according to those principles that you
personally feel will do the greatest good, but that still does not yield
your resources to someone else's autonomy.  I'm not making a judgement as
much as an observation that you (and those posting in this thread) seem to
be approaching the point from very different directions.
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