Lazarus to the table

Consider

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.

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

Is that the only way and the best way to give? Can we do better? This is the space to take a moment of openess, a moment of objectivity, to reconsider. It 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.

I

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

II

• Cascade of prejudices
• The torch
• Copernicus & Einstein
• Compensation
• Typically outliers
• Rainbow

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
• Charity
• Liberation

Get in touch

E-mail me@marychin.org