The poor as giver
Mother Teresa used to narrate an incident of how one day when she brought some food to a family of five, which had not eaten for two days, the woman in the house took the bowl from Mother’s hand and went out. On her return she said, “My neighbour’s children are in the same condition as mine and they needed to eat too, Mother.” That’s why Mother always held, “The poor give us much more than what we give them.”
It is sometimes awkward to make comparisons. I shall, nevertheless, venture to do so, making use of a survey that supports my own observation. The survey says, “The generosity of poor people isn’t so much rare as rarely noticed. In fact, the poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do. What’s more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does,” stated Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice-president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of major non-profit agencies. That result can easily be applied to any part of the world and to people of all religions and cultures.
When it comes to being generous, it is not because the poor are more faithful to their religious teachings than the rich. The reason, I believe, why this may be true is that as a rule people who have money don’t know people in need, while the poor not only know the ones who are in need, they also know exactly what it is to be in need and needing. Paul Piff, a researcher in psychology on the subject, says, “If we think of this in group terms, it makes perfect sense. Members of each group will identify with other members of the group to which they belong. Their issues will resonate more deeply.”
Regardless of whether we are poor or rich let us follow what Jesus says, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets… when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt. 6: 2-3).
Similarly, once Jesus noticed how the rich people threw in large amounts of money in a synagogue but a poor widow could put in only two very small copper coins. He then called his disciples and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on” (Mark 12: 42-43).
Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of
communication of the Delhi Catholic Church.
He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com
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