Charity is Necessary and Beneficial On Conditions - Essay Example

Charity is the willingly giving of money to individuals in need in society, which is coordinated by an organization responsible for raising the funds for the poor.  However, it is substantial to agree with John D. Rockefeller’s quote, “Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.” Notably, most individuals only perceive the nature of charity from the perspective that it is necessary and beneficial, which is true but fails to analyze the damage that charity can have on the people in need.

  According to Rockefeller, charity is necessary and beneficial on condition that it helps those in need to be independent of the unguaranteed funds. Consequently, I agree with Rockefeller in that charity brings harm if it is not meant to help them have a better life that is not dependent on well-wishers. I believe that charity is necessary and beneficial to the needy only if it alleviates their ways of living through means meant to help them develop from charity-dependent to independent citizens capable of providing for themselves.

Donations that make the poor well-wishers dependent brings harm in a way that it promotes misuse of the poor by the charity organizations who obey every rule and direction of the charity organization in the bid to secure financial help. Discriminate charity is also evident to cause more harm as it is not aimed at helping the ‘supposed’ needy, but promote ethnicity and unfairness. Recently, charity organizations have been on the lookout as some have been promoting youth radicalization such as where the youth are obliged to undertake illegal rallies and campaigns only because by doing so, they are entitled to receive help for the ill-motivated charity institutions, which lead to increased harm than benefits to the society and those in need.

Charity is not a guaranteed source of fund for the poor; hence, the only way to guarantee the needy of a better life is by ensuring that the help they receive help them not to entirely depend on charity. Failure to help the needy be independent of charity pose a great danger because that means that any scenario leading to reduced charity funds will lead to ultimate suffering or even death to the needy.  For example, if the charity organizations that give help to regions frequently characterized by drought, then that means all those depended on charity are in great danger of starving.

Additionally, it has been observed that charity may further lead to sluggishness among the poor and instead of improving their lives, become enslaved by the help they receive only to undergo suffering the moment a charity organization is no longer able to offer support. For instance, drought-prone areas would benefit more if the needy were offered with help to cultivate the land using irrigation schemes that would eventually help them be independent of any charity food rather than just giving charity food after which they will depend on every time the disaster strikes.

In spite of charity being necessary and beneficial, it has to be focused on alleviating the poverty levels among the needy and helping them to be independent of funds from well-wishers. A charity that lacks strategies to ensure that the poor are not entirely dependent on it eventually brings more harm than benefits. Subsequently, unless the charity is meant to help the needy independent from the fund from donations, its necessity and benefits are compromised.