Charity starts with me. To what extent is charity the responsibility of an individual?

Quintessentially, charity celebrates the joy of the heart when commendable attributes such as mercy, compassion and altruism are manifested through various means such as donations, offering to help those who are not as fortunate as ourselves. In particular, charity brings happiness to its beneficiaries. An undeniable core aspect of charity would definitely be sincerity on the part of those giving out charity. Because of this reasoning, I am inclined to agree to a large extent that ‘charity starts with me’. In the light of the modern and materialistic world whereby people generally value one another according to one’s social status and material wealth, I opine that such calls to charity are really needed to make our society a more compassionate and caring one.

Charity begins with the heart, it is the measure of how much care and love we have for fellow human beings who happen to be less well-off than ourselves. If an individual truly has compassion for other people, then it would certainly pain him to see other human beings suffer from afflictions such as penury and disease. Hence he would be compelled to do whatever within his means to ameliorate the suffering of the less fortunate whom he affectionately refer to as ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’. Charity also tends to lose its value if there is a lack of sincerity in it. For example, society will not consider a donation commendable or exemplary should the donor seek fame or praises for his act. An ostentatious act of ‘charity’ loses its value and therefore charity must be accompanied by sincerity that comes from the heart and hence must ‘start with me’.

Also, charity does not have to be perceived as a burden or something that is difficult to implement in our daily lives. We can give charity from anything that is within our means. When asked to give donations, a student may give just a petty amount of one dollar. Even though a dollar is an insignificant proportion of what s actually needed, no one can say that the student is being miserly or stingy just because he donated only a dollar. The circumstances are that the student is not earning any income and hence can afford to donate only that amount. The important lesson is that the student’s donation is no less an act of charity than a millionaire donating thousands of dollars. From here, it is evident that charity is a simple act which anyone can perform. “Even a smile is charity,” says Prophet Muhammad. As such, charity should start with the individual since it is so easy.

Another part worth taking note is that ‘true charity’ can never be imposed upon others. This is because people have ownership and rights over their possessions and may choose not to give charity even when urged to do so. After all, charity has never been obligatory. There are many people who have acquired or been blessed with substantial amounts of money yet their hands shiver when asked for donations when they ought to be philanthropic.

Some may argue that authorities such as governments and religions can impose the concept of ‘obligatory charity’ upon people. In Singapore for example, a small percentage of people’s income actually goes to the Community Chest, an organization that raises funds for charity. However, I believe that such ‘obligatory charity’ does not deserve to be credited as an act of sincerity or true charity as one can always question whether the Community Chest would get the same amounts of money if the government no longer enforces such laws. In this aspect, ‘obligatory charity’ can be considered a subtle form of tax to improve income inequality in a society. Furthermore, no sane person would exalt such ‘donations’ since it is a must for everyone to do it.

Some religions make it an obligation for adherents to give a portion of their wealth to those deserving. In Islam, the concept of zakat states that a Muslim will have to give away 2.5% of his savings yearly if it exceeds a certain amount. In this case, charity is seen as the responsibility of the religion. However, this is not true as Islam calls zakat money the rights of the poor whether or not zakat has been given out. In this case zakat cannot be considered a charity as the money does not belong to the ones giving the zakat. In addition to zakat, Islam promotes and encourages followers to constantly give charity and according to Islamic tenets, a Muslim’s charity can never substitute his obligations to observe the zakat. Hence, it is axiomatic that even religions do recognize the ‘start-with-me’ nature of charity.

Charity may also be considered as society’s responsibility as the implementation of some large-scale charity moves will require the efforts and hard work of many. The President’s Star Challenge, for example, is a joint effort by many sponsors and celebrities without whom it may never be successful. In a way the efforts of society are required to kick start this kind of charity but nevertheless it all boils down individuals who actually chose to volunteer. The act of volunteering oneself for a charitable act is definitely an act that begins with the individual concerned.

In conclusion, charity is, to a large extent, the responsibility of an individual as it requires sincerity that comes from the heart, it cannot be coerced upon others and charity really is something that is within everyone’s means. Ever since the dawn of religion, thousands of years ago, charity has always been celebrated as the manifestation of compassion and love on the part of those giving charity. Society would truly be ethically bankrupt should the day when ‘true charity’ no longer exists and people have to be forced to ‘donate’, comes.