Whenever I ask someone about what is best in their religion (and I frequently ask this question, as it interests me), this is often the first answer I get. You should do good deeds, share your wealth with those who have less, take care of the needy.
Then WHY is there so much suffering in this world of ours??? If all people who are of some sort of faith live by it?
Somehow it doesn't work...it is awry.
When I sold my flowers in a stall on a Kilburn street corner, a long long long looooooong time ago, I used to see the vagrants searching through the bins. Most of them had an alcohol problem. I was on a nodding acquaintance with some of them, and one of the females even talked to me from time to time. I had my money in a moneybag around my waist, and never once did I feel unsafe. I felt they recognised me as a non-threat, and they would therefore not threaten (or rob) me.
One time one of the men asked me for money, almost politely. I refused, told him it wasn't my money but that of my boss, but offered to buy him a sandwich out of my own lunch money. To my amazement and incomprehension, he started spouting abuse. He told me he did not want my charity (the bacon sandwich), he wanted beer money!
To this day I still do not understand what drove him to get so angry with me. I meant well.
My Mum always taught me to accept gifts gracefully, even if I didn't like them.
Still. What I can relate to, is that if you are a proud person, and if you have to rely on charity for some reason, that must be really hard.
Oh well. We have a saying in the Wetlands: "It is better to give, then to receive". Even if this gift surmounts to nothing more than just a drop in the ocean, I believe this to be truth.
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