By Acela Rubi Carrasco – Student Contributor
During the week of September 1st, Global Village began meeting for Round Table Discussions at which students can get together and share opinions at each of the PPCC campuses about difficult and provocative topics we face as a society. This specific week dealt with charity and its effects on the global economy.
My thoughts: Mother Theresa was quoted as saying, “It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”
People feel alive when they obtain satisfaction by helping others. Charity is the purest act of love and kindness. Mother Teresa’s life perfectly personifies this concept. In recognition of her noble role of charity, the General Assembly of the United Nations designated the 5th of September, the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, as the International Day of Charity.
Charity is associated with words such as; donation, share, give and solidarity – among others. However, the importance of this word is not its meaning, it is the action of helping others and the way that this is done. It’s the love that people put into their actions and the positive effects of that love.
It doesn’t matter if people share what they do not need anyway. It would also be unwise for people to give all they have and not save anything for themselves. The importance of charity is helping others because the action itself enriches and comforts the soul – your own as well as other’s.
People who give in the spirit of charity receive an opportunity for personal growth, and their gifts can make a huge difference in the life of someone in need. Through the pleasure of sharing, people’s humanity could be renewed, but it could also be destroyed. If you decide to help someone, do this with love, compromise, enthusiasm, and aim to transform the invisible person before you into a visible one.
When people do charitable actions, they spread light in the world of those in need. However, charitable actions could be distorted – used as a business strategy to obtain tax benefits and free publicity or used by drug traffickers to buy needy people’s loyalty.
According to the Charitable Contributions from the IRS official government page (Publication 526, 2018), there are many opportunities to receive tax deductions for making charitable contributions to qualified organizations. And corporations aren’t the only ones to take advantage of people’s charity.
Last week, September 11th, we talked about mental health, and we heard testimonies from people who are directly or indirectly victims of illnesses. We realize that Global Village meetings are free spaces, where people can come and share whatever they have in their minds and no one is going to judge them.
All opinions are welcome. Also, there was a group of students who attended for the first time, and they thought that all the people in the meeting were old friends. We do not know each other, but we have developed a friendly environment. Imagine, this was our second meeting and we have that level of confidence. This week we are discussing student success, and next week Hispanic culture.
Interested in topics like those discussed in this article? Join us at the Global Village Round Table Discussions held each week. Meetings are held weekly at each campus. View Round Table meeting times and scheduled topics at PPCC.edu/Global-Village, or find me or any of the PPCC Global Village Ambassadors. All are welcome.
