True generosity?

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.” Jack London

Watching the news reports about the desperate state of need for donations at local food banks left me considering the true essence of generosity and charity.

There are studies that have shown that the people with little or nothing to spare can be the most generous. Not in the amount given, since obviously the $$$ are just not there, but in the relationship between what they keep for themselves and what they give. When things are tough and there is little to spare this group continues to give – often because they have worn the shoes of people who depend on places such as the food banks for enough to eat to live.

On $1 meal days I have watched those who did not have a dollar the meal day before and who may not have a dollar on the next meal day, but had a spare dollar this meal day, buy someone else a meal. I have had to ponder my own generosity after watching someone spend their $1 on someone they thought really needed the meal – even though it meant they had to eat a bowl of free soup.

Yes the future is uncertain, but rather than being less generous we need to be more generous to essential services such as the food bank – because the demand for help to put food in stomachs increases during economic down turns.

Jack London is right, true generosity is sharing even when times may be tight or tough for you.