Giving

[pecunium]

So, archer904 is up to about a grand. I suspect he will be close to 2,500 bucks before he's done.

I was thinking about this earlier. He says he isn't going to get hit so badly he can't make the donation. He may be donating more than he expected to, but it's not going to break him.

He could have just looked in the bank and figured out every spare penny he has and given it to the Red Cross, or Noah's Wish, or whomever he thought could to the most good. And that would have been good.

So why should I, who posted a comment, and so caused a dollar I don't own to be sent the way of some needy people, be happy because so many others have done so?

Those people haven't actually contributed (other than to give a reason for someone else to donate). He could have given as much (or more) than this. Yes, because he chose this method they have taken part, some small amount of help had them as the proximate cause, and that's a good thing. They can be comforted by it (I am).

But it's bigger than that, and I'm trying to figure out why.

I think, as I've been saying elsewhere, this points out that we are all in this together. This lets a whole lot of people, who don't know each other (save by those degrees of separation pull on the same rope and lift some people out of the mire.

So, kudos to archer904 and a nod to all of those who chose to help him be generous.






Edit: I think I know part of what makes this so uplifting. He set no limits. He didn't say, I can give X, and if enough of you care, they will get that much. No, he said he would give as much as people cared. He is living an ideal, and we can share in it.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I left it out, because I didn't see a way to get there without elision, and that rang false.

But I agree, Justice can only be seasoned with mercy.

TK