Charity

As a kid, I always used to wonder why there is poverty in this world. There are enough super rich people in the world. If each of them could only donate 5% of their wealth to the poor, we could all be rich. For example, Bill Gates could give 100$ to every American and still be left with a whooping $15 bn. A similar math could probably be done with the wealth of Ambanis and the Khans from Bollywood. A 5% cut in their wealth may make no difference to them, but could make a world of the difference to the indigent masses. Perfect ! We got the solution to an equitable world. No more poverty, no more suffering !! Unfortunately, not everything in the world can be explained by numbers.

There are many reasons why this distribution of wealth could never alleviate poverty. One of the first things which helped me reason this out, was economics. My economics professor explained how 100$ in the hand of the poorest of the poor, could increase the demand and cause inflation. In other words 3$ gas would start costing 20$, .50$ soda would soon cost 4$, and so on....rendering 100$ that the poor received almost worthless. This seemed a logical way of countering the arguements put forth in the above paragraph.

But I guess the real problem is that the poor don't need our wealth afterall. Instead they need our intellect and time to improve their plight. They want us to pass on our skills to them and work alongside to develop self-sustainable livelihoods for themselves. People like Mt. Teresa weren't rich; but she changed more lives than the what 5% of Bill Gates money would get. Money is probably a very small player in the big scheme of things. In short, Charity has no giver or taker, people work alongside and enrich each others life.

What I was unable to convey in 3 paragraphs, could be very succintly put in 2 lines of some great philosopher

'A bone to a dog is not charity. Charity is that bone which is shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog'