To give is to …

Charity is an odd thing.  Some people do it and make a point of letting everyone know that they do it.  Some religions have it part of the duties that one needs to do, notably Islam.  Christianity, doesn't, but it is expected by their clergy, as all their needs are taken care of by the church and thus by the people.  

The Hindus have something completely different, sort of anyways, they buy good Karma to balance out their bad Karma by doing charity.  It is different from the others because not only do they not expect thanks, but they want to not be given thanks.  

Other people, non-Hindus expect thanks and gratitude.  Which actually in my ears sounds like they, the benefactor, are getting something from the transaction, social betterment and prestige.  I am better than the person I gave to.  Or, see what a good person I am, I just gave a large donation to the food bank!  In a way whenever anyone gives money or good to anyone this is the transaction that is occurring.

 

Back to the Hindus.  They recognize the fact that giving something to someone else gives some social currency to the giver.  A Hindu that wishes to balance their Karma, must give without recompense.  The giver gets an intangible token added to the scales of Karma that is weighed upon their death to let the gods determine if the person shall fall in caste or rise.  A simple, "Thank-you," invalidates the act of charity, the giver receiving recognition and not a spiratial token for the next life.

The Hindu way and my way are similar, when I give, I do not want your thanks and at the same time being a fervent Atheist, I do not believe in Karma or scales that weigh my goodness versus my good, but as a humanist I also don't believe that I am better than anyone else and I deserve no social elevation for giving.  Since I know some of the people that read this blog and even if I didn't if I used this blog to tell people if I did or did not, and if I did how much I gave, I would be breaking those ideals.

But, I am receiving some peer pressure, indirectly to be sure, from the skeptical podcasts that I listen to.  They are mostly American and the pressure comes from the fact that the American public views Atheists as having the morals equal or worse than a serial rapist.  The pressure is to broadcast that Atheists do care about their fellow human beings and do not need a reward/threat, to be moral people.

So, I do this for that reason alone, I don't want recognition, but I want people to know that atheists care for people other than themselves, nor for just the sweetness of baby flesh, that I give to charity on occasion.

The real quandary that I have is giving to charity and not letting anyone know that I do, nor letting anyone know how much I gave.  If I give to charity as a gift or as an anonymous donation and buy gifts for Christmas.  Actually I hate being thanked for Christmas or any type of gift so I might just do that and get it over that way