Last updated on August 21, 2020
Remember, let’s be polite; let’s be respectful, but most of all, let’s be outspoken
This coming August 4th, 2019, I am conducting my second charity event at Memorial Park, La Cañada Flintridge. Last year’s charity, August 4th, 2018, we obtained over 150 donations in two hours. Also, for people who want to support the cause, here is the link.
Please come down, to say hi, donate something you don’t need, or to talk politics in the blistering heat of California. All proceeds go to St. Bede. St. Bede the Venerable is a Catholic church in La Cañada. It is an incredibly charitable organization that gives donations to programs in Africa.
In this article, I am going to discuss why charity is incredibly imperative especially in times of great bifurcation.
As I said before, America has one of the most stable economies in the world. Our GDP is ranked incredibly high, and our GDP per capita supersedes economic powers like China’s.
Because of certain bipartisan and partisan economic policies, our unemployment rate has been at an all-time low on a general spectrum and for minority groups, in recent decades.
Yet, according to an economic study by the Census Bureau, America still has a 12.3 percent poverty rate. If someone takes a twenty minute drive around Los Angeles, it doesn’t take a genius to make the conclusion that poverty is a problem.
There are homeless camps and sites littered all over the streets of Los Angeles. Poverty is a horrible and tragic predicament and nobody, especially a child, should endure it.
Therefore, what should we do? Let me preface this by saying I am a Roman Catholic. One of the most monumental virtues that are taught within the Church doctrine is charity. Out of the seven virtues, charity is the most important because of how impactful it is.
One of the reasons charity is so imperative is because it invokes a sense of selflessness. The Catholic church is one of the biggest charities in the world. According to Business Insider, the Catholic Church donates over 5 billion dollars to over 400 different charities worldwide. Regardless if one is religious or not, charity is truly a fundamental good cause that benefits both the giver and the receiver.
One of the biggest rhetorics I believe is preconceived is poverty is inescapable and the government has an obligation to give homeless people government handouts.
However, I do not think the role of the government is to use taxpayer’s money to subsidize food stamps. The war on poverty started in 1964 and the government has done little to nothing to address the epidemic of poverty.
Recently, Los Angeles passed legislation to give money to homeless centers to solve their growing poverty rate. To no one’s shock, the homeless people did not take the money to build an infrastructure to find jobs but wasted their money.
The homeless people did not have incentives to be financially responsible. Because, it is not up to the government to help people, it’s up to people to help people.
Therefore, I firmly believe that we should, as individuals, help others in need. The reason why charity is such a unique practice is that one is voluntarily giving their hard-earned money to those who are in need.
I want to end this article with a story. I have a favorite podcast host. When he was giving a speech, a person asked how America can fix the poverty rate. He responded with an anecdotal about a younger woman. He says that he once received an email that says she broke one of the three rules to becoming successful. Don’t have babies before you marry, graduate high school, and get a job.
She said she had a baby at the age of 15. Since then, she has been raising the baby on her own, she received her GED at a local community college, and now she is trying to pay for childcare. He proposed that she should create a GoFundMe. He put in 100 dollars and publicized it. Within an hour, she had over 6000 dollars.
There is this phrase, “Stronger Together”, which I find incredibly inspiring. When we combine our ideas, the United States creates remarkable accomplishments. Join me, on August 4th, so we can give people in great despair the second chance needed to lift themselves and become better human beings. Every life has the potential to be something truly inspiring, let’s make it happen.
Remember, let’s be polite; let’s be respectful, but most of all, let’s be outspoken
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