p. 15
….She taught me through her example many things: Be skeptical of what the crowd is doing, be even more skeptical of what powerful people tell us, dig up all the facts and appraise them objectively and, then and only then, reach my conclusion. Because things aren’t always what they first appear to be.
And so she stopped me cold one day with this doozy. For my birthday a few years ago I had asked my friends to give to a national relief charity. She was against it. I did a double take. How could anyone be opposed to giving to help the needy—much less my mother, champion of the downtrodden?
“Lisa, don’t give to charity.”
Say what? There must be interference on the line, I thought. Then I realized I was talking to her face to face.
“Think about it. I get invited to a celebrity fundraiser in Beverly Hills for a hospital for the poor. It makes everyone feel great to support the inner-city hospital. But what about all the other poor people who don’t have a celebrity connection to raise funds for them? What about all the other Americans who can’t get to this hospital, and who die from lack of health insurance and lack of access to health care?”
True enough, I say, but isn’t it better to help a few than to do nothing? I lob back one of my favorite quotes, from Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not fail to do the something that I can do.”
“I’m not advocating doing nothing,” my mom says. “Please. Don’t give to charity. Give to change. Take the money you would give to the hospital and give it to an advocacy group working to change the system so everyone can have access to health care….It’s less glamorous than going to a fundraiser….”
“Give to change?” Had you ever thought of it that way? She didn’t entirely persuade me—I still asked for, and received, charitable donations that birthday and all the birthdays since—but she did make me think. When I give to charity, am I just putting a Band-Aid on the problem? What can I do to address the root problem itself?…
The Bible and meaningful books 