For me, charity is a very personal thing, and I do not intend to preach to anyone as I hate being preached to. Previously I have always kept my charitable givings secret as I am very choosy over what I support and it can be such an emotional issue that I just decided best not to talk about it, I’ll go along and do my thing when I feel the need to give and not make a fuss about it.
Everyone has their own causes that they want to give to, or don’t want to give to and I believe that all such views should be respected and I try to, which again is another reason that I don’t talk about it. I also think that there is nothing wrong in giving nothing, I will go into more detail later.
However in the case of the floods in Pakistan, I do feel the need to talk about it as it really asked me a few questions.
Straight away, I knew how bad a situation it was, I like to think that I have above-average awareness of most countries around the world, and how the people that live there, live. To me, giving money to the Haiti earthquake appeal was a no-brainer, given how poor the country was. But Pakistan is a country that has nuclear weapons, my first reaction was why should I? If you can spend money on nuclear weapons then why should I be helping you?
I got over that. I always question my conclusions. And anyone who knows me will know that I definitely question other people’s conclusions.
Anyway, my new conclusion was that they are human beings. I do through no fault of my own live a much more comfortable life than most of the people affected, I suspect, so if it means I go without a few of my indulgencies over the next week or so then so be it.
5 or so years ago I would not have been in a position to help out as I was not quite as comfortable financially. I’m glad that I am in a position to now – who knows, I or someone I personally care about, might be in a position to need such help in the future, though that isn’t the reason I did it.
I do hope I haven’t come across as patronizing or attention-seeking or anything, I can help, I wanted to help, I believed that my contribution would help, so I did. I wrote about it on the off-chance that it might help someone else in their thought-processes.