I think I should like to write a story about a person facing a decision and the roles flip flop as more is understood, and the most interesting part of the conflict is when the "bad" side promises ease and seems to endow on one side and the next where the "good" side offers pain and suffering and a bleak future. I think of what my son was saying this morning about teaching a starving man how to get food, versus just "putting a bandaid on it with a 5 dollar bill."
Oh, now I am remembering an institute class in Auburn, Washington when we talked about helping homeless people on the waterfront the night before. I held firm that I was glad to "enable" the beggars because they had practically no freedom to choose, and that was what I was giving them when I tossed my contribution. Where as my friend rebuked me and claimed that I ought to have taken them to eat and paid for it so that I could be sure they were honest about what they were going to use the money for... but, that misses my point and reason for helping or as Joseph calls it "giving cheerfully". After hearing him this morning, I realize it is not at all matter of what I did or did not do, as long as it was motivated by pure love. The end.
