Monday, May 23, 2011

Charity isn't supposed to be entertaining....

There has been a lot of flooding in the US over the past few weeks. There have been people in dire need and people in turmoil. There are all over, and there are many who are right in your own back yard.

Through this I have seen people help friends out, which is great, but you are SUPPOSED to help your friends. Real friends are people you see, share with, dine with, and help when there is an emergency. Real "friends" are not a list of people on Facebook or My Space. They are not something that you collect like trading cards to stoke your ego.

So do we stop there? Do we help our best friend and ignore others that need help, even though they might be right next to the friend you are helping? Not if you hold yourself up to being a helper, a volunteer, a charitable person, or very spiritual.

This would be the perfect time to stop doling out time, money and effort to people miles away, and help others locally. Start with friends, then friends of friends. When a friend asks you to help a friend of theirs , you should be all over it! Charity DOES begin at home!
Helping others in other places is fine, but not til "your house" is standing strong here.

People seem to think that charity is about getting together, and having a good time. Dancing, drumming, eating, hugging. That isn't charity, not even close. Charity is about your time, your wallet, your efforts, and it is usually dirty,expensive, time consuming work...not social settings!

I recently saw a cry for help go unheeded because people are so involved with their fun, their pet charities and their own personal egos, that they left a brother standing alone. A man who fought for them in the military, who was a police officer, and who is the "go to " man on all matters involving the NA ways locally. He knows traditions and protocol COLD. There is no official pow wow, ancestor days, or such, held without him being involved. He is in layman's terms "the local authority". His plight was announced, re-announced by friends. Yet so many who say they follow the NA ways ignored the call. This is NOT the way of the Native American community! When one of the local NA community needs help, the NA community steps in. That is what has kept that culture alive.

It all goes to show that there are people who really walk their talk, and people who can't walk it, because they just don't have a clue. This was a serious matter and there was no reason for folks not to step up to the plate. This was a one time emergency, not a life long albatross to hang around one's neck. This is a man who is an important and major part of the local NA community. This is a man who laid his life on the line in wartime and peacetime. He asks for a little help, and that is what he got, a LITTLE...TOO LITTLE help, from this part of the world.

There is still time to help, maybe some folks will take a good long hard look in the mirror and say "I dropped the ball", and do something. Only time will tell.

When someone asks for help, and you disregard it, it sets in motion, a mass of negative energy and Karma, that you really don't want to be on the wrong end of.
It most certainly shouldn't matter if there is no recognition or glory or "get together" in it! Charity is NOT supposed to be entertaining!

Charity begins at home. Charity is meant to make a permanent change, not be a hand out that goes on for years and years. Charity often involves major change. The GOAL of all charity is to make strides to it never being needed again. When the same person has their hand our every day, it is more helpful to NOT fill that hand any more. When a person who is local has an emergency, it is time to stop the checks to far away places and concentrate locally.....local should ALWAYS be the first place charity is focused anyway,and then focus can be shifted to other places.

How can we help the world when our "home base" is falling down?




Peshaui Wequashimese




(c)2011 Dr. R M Reiter Wolf. May not be used , copied or reproduced without prior written permission.

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