Call

This is a call for interest to reconsider how we give: how we serve and how we do charity, how we administer and how we donate. Around the world and across centuries services and charities, ministries and donations have gone a long way in lifting many out of hardships. There are reference templates for accomplishing all that—templates that are inherited and expressed, executed and proven to deliver—templates that are hardly ever questioned.

This is the space and now is the time for a moment of openess to reconsider: is that the only way and the best way to give? Can we do better? That has something to do with how we relate with neediness, weakness and vulnerability. That has something to do with how we understand and express compassion. That has something to do with how we value values—a good logic would be one that works whether we speak from the mind or from the heart, whether we talk science or talk faith.

In the pages that follow we explore our interactions with recipients services, ministries and charities set out to serve.

Someone is going hungry. What do we do?

A. Do nothing.

B. Feed him occasionally.

C. Feed him generously and keep feeding him.

D. Bring him to the table to share the bounty.

If we’re not hungry and we have the means to feed, that would not be our greatest wealth. Our greatest wealth would be the freedom to choose how we respond and the power to make it happen.

I

• Lazarus of the crumbs
• Frozen skeletons
• Empty table
• L’Arche as a model
• Poor & marginalized

II

• Cascades of prejudice
• The torch
• Copernicus & Einstein
• Typically outliers

III

• Soiling & leaking
• Caregiving & caregiven
• Feeding
• Swapping roles
• More pain

IV

• People’s shoes
• Rohingya’s shoes
• My shoes
• Smelly feet

V

• Our streets
• Jardin de Montbrillant
• Downtown Eastside
• Manhattan

VI

• Left & right hands
• Lazarus, come forth!

Get in touch

E-mail me@marychin.org