Giving: From the Heart, and Other Vital Organs

Quite a few folks in Japan can use help just now. I wrote about that yesterday:

• "Japan: Earthquake, Tsunami, Burning Reactors, and Snow; a Little Help?"
  (March 16, 2011)

Here are the links I listed, of Catholic charitable outfits:

• Catholic Relief Services
  • "CRS Ready to Respond to Devastation in Japan"
  • Donate
• Caritas Internationalis
  • "Massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan"

I'm pretty sure that CRS and CI are okay: they've been around for years, and my household has given to them before - and probably will again. But, as I urged yesterday, do your own research.

I wrote that for two reasons: first, because I live in America, and don't want to be sued by some nitwit¹ who felt bad after giving to CRS - and talked to a lawyer; second, because it's a good idea.

Back to giving, and research.

Smart Charity

It'd be nice if everybody who sent an email pleading for donations to something like the 'Save the Armadillo Panel,' or an envelope with a picture of a sick child and a request for money, had a heart of gold.

Unhappily, the deplorable Mr. Grimes isn't alone. (November 26, 2010) Some charities really do a good job of helping the folks they say they do - others may mean well, but don't get the job done - and some are outright frauds.

The trick is to figure out which is which, before giving them your money.

I did a micro-review of one article on 'how to give' in another blog:

• "Aid to Japan: Pretty Good Advice"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (March 13, 2011)

Perhaps more to the point, here are links to two pretty good 'charitable giving advice' articles:

• "How people can help Japanese earthquake recovery"
  Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (March 13, 2011)
• "Japan earthquake: How you can help"
  Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney (March 12, 2011)

Warm Sentiment, Cool Head

I don't have anything against emotions. More to the point, the Catholic Church says that emotions are okay:

"The term "passions" belongs to the Christian patrimony. Feelings or passions are emotions or movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt or imagined to be good or evil.

"The passions are natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind. Our Lord called man's heart the source from which the passions spring.⁴⁰

"There are many passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.

" 'To love is to will the good of another.'⁴¹ All other affections have their source in this first movement of the human heart toward the good. Only the good can be loved.⁴² Passions 'are evil if love is evil and good if it is good.'⁴³"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1763-1766)

There's more, quite a bit more. (Catechism 1762-1775, for starters)

The way I see it, emotions aren't good or bad by themselves: what counts is how they interact with my reason and will. (1767) And, happily, doing good (or evil) doesn't depend on feeling strong emotions. (1768)

Don't take my word for it, by the way. As I've said before, I've got the authority of "some guy with a blog." I strongly suggest following those links, and checking the Catechism out yourself.

About emotions and reason? I think that 'giving from the heart,' giving in response to a surge of emotion, is nice. I also think that it's a really good idea to get reason engaged before acting on those emotions.

It's sort of like putting out a fire. Firefighters around here often attach a hose to a fire hydrant, and stream water from the hose onto a fire.

Opening the hydrant's valve without the hose would soak everyone and everything near the hydrant - but probably wouldn't have much effect on the fire. The water is useful only if it's directed where it's needed.

Enough with the metaphor.

And Now, Something Emotional: Pictures From Japan

Friday afternoon's earthquake was the most powerful in Japan's history, I've read. The official death toll keeps increasing - because that's an actual body count. Folks in Japan have been keeping track of how many bodies, and pieces of bodies, they find. The actual number of dead may never be known. Estimates are upwards of 10,000. That's not good. On the other hand, it could be worse. The last big one, the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, killed about 140,000 people.

In a way, the sub-freezing temperatures and snow they've been having in Miyagi Prefecture are a sort of blessing. Folks who survived the earthquake and tsunami - and found a shelter - aren't in quite as much danger from disease in this weather. All that cold preserves the corpses that haven't been found yet. When it warms up, survivors will have diseases like cholera to add to their concerns. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (March 14, 2011))

Under normal circumstances, Japan doesn't have trouble getting food to folks who want to eat. The country's transportation system is, in some ways, more up-to-date than America's. Or, rather, was. The last I heard, they still hadn't found a few trains that went missing of Friday, and this photo shows what Kesennuma looked like on March 16. As you see, the city is in very good condition: folks there knew where streets should be, and have cleared at least two of them.

So, once trucks with relief supplies get to Kesennuma, they shouldn't have too much trouble reaching the survivors. I don't know how many bridges and tunnels need to be repaired first.

Helicopters? Japan has a limited number of those useful vehicles: and some of them have been tied up in efforts to keep nuclear reactors in Fukushima from getting too hot.

Still, things could be worse.

Folks in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture have cleared paths - which give folks access to rainwater.

That's a good thing, since the municipal water systems are out of commission, along with cell phone service, electrical power - let's face it, quite a few folks in Japan aren't having a good week.

At all.

Which is why I've done two posts now, about opportunities for practicing charity.

If you don't feel like helping folks in Japan, both Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Internationalis help lots of other folks, too. Or, you could find another charitable organization.

Have I given to either outfit recently? No: my household isn't destitute, but we're not looking for ways to take care of our charitable obligations, either. 'Japan relief' is on the agenda, though.

Blaming the Victim, Getting a Grip

Do I think Japan 'got what was coming to them?' How should I know? I'm not God. From my perspective, it doesn't seem likely: but the Governor of Tokyo had a different opinion:

• "Japan's Earthquake, Divine Retribution, and the Tower at Siloam"
  (March 15, 2011)

Does it matter? Again, from my perspective, no. Right now, there are cold, hungry people in Japan who can probably use help.

Looks like I'm not the only one who sees it that way:


(Kyodo News, used w/o permission)
Folks in South Korea, donating money to help Japan deal with the March 11 earthquake. Photo taken March 15, 2011, at Jogyesa Buddhist temple in Seoul.

Japan will, I think, recover whether or not I give a few dollars to help out. But charity, along with faith and hope, is an important virtue. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1813, 1822-1829) I think it's a good idea to practice it now and again.

And that's another topic.

Using your head:

• "Japan, Good Taste, Common Sense, and a Duck"
  (March 15, 2011)
• "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (September 24, 2010)
• "Becoming Catholic for Reasons, Leaving Because of Feelings"
  (August 5, 2010)
• "It's Faith and Reason"
  (June 19, 2010)
• "Emotions, the Frontal Cortex, The War on Terror, Anarchists, and the Illuminati"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (December 23, 2008)

Other somewhat-related posts:

• "Japan: Earthquake, Tsunami, Burning Reactors, and Snow; a Little Help?"
  (March 16, 2011)
• "Christina Green, Organ Transplants, and Rules"
  (January 16, 2011)
• "Partners in Education and Mr. Grimes: A Melodrama For Today"
  (November 26, 2010)
• "Haiti, Knights of Columbus, and Kids Without Limbs"
  (August 20, 2010)
• "Charity Begins at Home: Where it Ends is Up to You"
  (February 10, 2010)

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¹ Not that you're a nitwit: but this blog can be read by anyone with an Internet connection, a browser, and an understanding of English. Or translation software. And America's judiciary, at least, has a track record of listening seriously to strange claims. In my opinion.

And that's several more topics.