By Mark Antony Rossi

The current challenge of charity is to persevere in doing the right thing despite a fraudulent presence intermingled among the needy. Not long ago my son demanded I give money to a homeless man with no shoes pushing a shopping cart with a dog inside it. I literally had to circle back with my car so he could give the man three dollars. (I added extra for the dog.)

It wasn’t but a few weeks afterward while going to a fast food driveway that we spotted that same man loading his cart and dog in a decent looking sport utility vehicle. He had shoes on and talking into a cell phone. Before I could even mention what just transpired in front of our shocked eyes my son remarked “We could have used that three dollars at Burger King.” He said it like someone punched him in the stomach and he lost all his lung capacity. I couldn’t be flippant about this matter because regardless if an important lesson loomed I could see my son lost a part of his innocence in that moment. For that pain alone I wanted to get out of the car and punish this fraudulent fool.

In this day, I found it more important to safeguard my children’s childhood than allow them to lose all semblance of playful disregard in the name of truth. Being an adult is highly overrated and truth is not always a virtue. I sat down both boys and taught them that charity and compassion counts for their character and in the eyes of God even if there are instances where your kindness is abused by people driving more expensive vehicles than your parents own.

I was a secretly afraid they would not extend help to peers at school believing everyone is lying about needing assistance. Last thing you want is for your children to grow cold towards people in a world far too cold already. Thankfully, they understood my point before having to stress it and never stopped sharing their lunch accounts with friends less fortunate. If I am being forced between raising children who care too much versus not caring at all I will settle for the former. In an increasingly extreme society the existence of nuance or even neutrality is barely holding on.

My children have been taught to defend themselves, stick up for what they believe in and offer assistance whenever possible. The intolerant politics of the Left and the Right don’t have a place for my offspring. They might to grow up fighting both sides. I’m fine with that. Such is the future challenge of charity.

About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York.

http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com/ 

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