Part I
Theology says, Christianity’s essence is kenosis, the emptying of one’s self; like Christ, ultimately, ‘being broken and shared’ for the good of the many. Christianity is filled with images comparing the kingdom of God to salt, seed, wheat—things that disappear and scatter to serve its purpose. Christians then are truly Christians (in union with Christ) only if they follow the mandate of kenosis.
In this premise, does the saying “One must first love one’s self before one can be capable of truly loving,” against the virtues of Christianity?
In contemplation, the answer I got was – No. One must love one’s neighbor as one loves himself. How can one love his neighbor if he does not know how it is to love himself? A person would have no idea how to treat others right if he or she does not know how to treat himself/herself well. Also, one must first recognize that as a human person, he or she has a dignity no one can take away from him. And ‘others’ being human persons as well, also has this same human dignity.
What does all of these things have to do with helping?
With the premises mentioned above, one thing is clear—helping is not an activity between a superior and inferior being because all human beings regardless of socio-economic status, education, gender, belief, race or pedigree, are endowed with the same, inalienable dignity.
My limited introspection of this led me to three factors that define ‘helping’—motive, means, mind-set.
How does one help?
Let us contextualize. What should one do if a child goes up the jeepney you are boarding and asks for money? I heard a lot of times that if one wants to help, just give without thinking. According to them, it is not anymore the giver’s concern how the help will be used; what’s important is that in your heart, you want to help. It is already up to the person how he/she will use it.
Personally, however, I see this as a short-cut. Okay, we cannot send all beggars to school. Okay, we cannot change their lives with the financial limitedness that we, too, have. But isn’t giving them money a way of encouraging them to stick to this dole-out mentality? Doesn’t this encourage parents to continue sending their children with envelopes out to dangerous streets because begging is lucrative? Doesn’t this make children think that it is okay to beg? What if they will use the money for vices like solvent or cigarettes? Why not then, give food instead? A pack of biscuits or bread… (Kung sabagay, kung mag-aabot ka, piso lang. Magkano na ba ang tinapay ngayon? Piso = short cut/more affordable, worry-free helping)
I think it is still the giver’s concern, if one truly cares, where the ‘help’ will get the person who asks. This applies not just to beggars in the streets but to all people who asks for help – a person who always asks for financial help during the rainy days but throws away all the grain during good weather, a child asking for new things when there are much more important things to spend the family budget on, such things… Is it always okay to give?
We must love our neighbor. This is not an option but a command. However, love does not mean always saying yes. Love is more responsible, more tedious but always more responsible.
The end does not justify the means.
Will a bad thing become a good thing if it will result in something good?
(To be continued…)
M. Angeles
May 22, 2012
Quezon City
Theology says, Christianity’s essence is kenosis, the emptying of one’s self; like Christ, ultimately, ‘being broken and shared’ for the good of the many. Christianity is filled with images comparing the kingdom of God to salt, seed, wheat—things that disappear and scatter to serve its purpose. Christians then are truly Christians (in union with Christ) only if they follow the mandate of kenosis.
In this premise, does the saying “One must first love one’s self before one can be capable of truly loving,” against the virtues of Christianity?
In contemplation, the answer I got was – No. One must love one’s neighbor as one loves himself. How can one love his neighbor if he does not know how it is to love himself? A person would have no idea how to treat others right if he or she does not know how to treat himself/herself well. Also, one must first recognize that as a human person, he or she has a dignity no one can take away from him. And ‘others’ being human persons as well, also has this same human dignity.
What does all of these things have to do with helping?
With the premises mentioned above, one thing is clear—helping is not an activity between a superior and inferior being because all human beings regardless of socio-economic status, education, gender, belief, race or pedigree, are endowed with the same, inalienable dignity.
My limited introspection of this led me to three factors that define ‘helping’—motive, means, mind-set.
- Means
How does one help?
Let us contextualize. What should one do if a child goes up the jeepney you are boarding and asks for money? I heard a lot of times that if one wants to help, just give without thinking. According to them, it is not anymore the giver’s concern how the help will be used; what’s important is that in your heart, you want to help. It is already up to the person how he/she will use it.
Personally, however, I see this as a short-cut. Okay, we cannot send all beggars to school. Okay, we cannot change their lives with the financial limitedness that we, too, have. But isn’t giving them money a way of encouraging them to stick to this dole-out mentality? Doesn’t this encourage parents to continue sending their children with envelopes out to dangerous streets because begging is lucrative? Doesn’t this make children think that it is okay to beg? What if they will use the money for vices like solvent or cigarettes? Why not then, give food instead? A pack of biscuits or bread… (Kung sabagay, kung mag-aabot ka, piso lang. Magkano na ba ang tinapay ngayon? Piso = short cut/more affordable, worry-free helping)
I think it is still the giver’s concern, if one truly cares, where the ‘help’ will get the person who asks. This applies not just to beggars in the streets but to all people who asks for help – a person who always asks for financial help during the rainy days but throws away all the grain during good weather, a child asking for new things when there are much more important things to spend the family budget on, such things… Is it always okay to give?
We must love our neighbor. This is not an option but a command. However, love does not mean always saying yes. Love is more responsible, more tedious but always more responsible.
The end does not justify the means.
Will a bad thing become a good thing if it will result in something good?
(To be continued…)
M. Angeles
May 22, 2012
Quezon City