Learning About Charity

I'm different from my wife when it comes to being charitable. Knowledge and some experience of syndicated begging in India had instilled a certain prudent consideration in me before giving. If in doubt, always try to verify. And if possible, give to organisations that can better channel the funds to worthy programmes, rather than to individuals.

The people asking for money outside the Orthodox churches in Russia was my first lesson. As of most things/people in Russia, I was wary of them. But my wife's simple logic won me over - they indeed look somewhat homeless, destitute and harmless. As there's no easy way of verifying if they're bona fide, why not just give openly, trusting that they'll put the money to good use?

So when Sasha approached us in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2 days back, my second lesson commenced. In a slightly pained and hysterical manner bordering on tears, the young man from Kalinigrad, Russia, implored us for some money to get his leg fixed at the hospital. While he declined our invitation to join us for dinner, he proceeded to show us his malady - a dark-looking patch of scaly skin that hints of clogged blood vessels. Truly not something you apply lotion on and hope it'll dissipate. Especially in freezing winter.

So we prayed for him and gave him a bunch of roubles we still had, supposedly sufficient to his asking. But some questions still bugged me thereafter. What is he doing here in Lithuania and why did he run out of money? Why does he insist on visiting a particular hospital somewhere else but not here in Vilnius, even as we offered to? These questions went unanswered during our brief encounter with Sasha. Indeed we wish him well and will continue to pray for his well-being. For God knows the heart of each man including mine, and it's better to be a generous fool rather than a miserly sage. Like faith, charity can be more easily observed by acting upon it rather than musing.