The Tsunami disaster of December 2004
jolted a lot of us in to a reality of what the consequences
of an earthquake could be. It was also heart warming to
see people contributing to the welfare of the unfortunate
people that were in the path of the wave.
Which begs the question of sharing, giving
and tithing. The concept of tithing is a very old and ancient
tradition. By the time of Moses, 1490 B.C., it was an already
accepted practice. Tithe means a tenth. In tithing, the
theory is to share a tenth of all after tax income.
While we shared our Christmas in Drumheller,
Abby, Doug's oldest daughter was collecting funds for the
Holy Children Assn. She had a container resembling a half
pint of cream, with statements on the outsides. They said,
25 cents can buy note books and pencils in Haiti; 50 cents
can buy a nutritious meal in the Congo; 75 cents can buy
medicine for sick children in Equador and a dollar can keep
20 children safe from tuberculosis in Bangladesh. The other
statement that 50% of the world's population would be hungry,
is a sad commentary on this world in 2005. The quality of
life indicator that struck me as almost unbelievable were,
the number of people living on less than a dollar a day.
India for example has 35% of it's population living on less
than a dollar a day; the Philippines and Venezuela had 15%;
Brazil was 10%; Mexico was 8%; Indonesia 7% and even Russia
had 6% of her population living on less than a dollar a
day.
Prime Minister Paul Martin and the government
were criticized by the media and many interviewees about
their lack of care and action. I would say before we criticize
any one we should look in the mirror because the Fraser
Institute did an analysis of Canadian and US charitable
giving. In Canada the most generous province was Manitoba
at .88 of 1%, Alberta came in fifth in Canada at .7 of 1%.
In the US, the state of Utah donates 3.51% of their incomes
and even Wyoming who was the lowest US state, was twice
as much as our best province Manitoba.
We do live in a great country and
we should be ever grateful for having been born or are an
accepted immigrant here, and we are a great and caring people
with many advantages. I see our challenge to ourselves should
be, to share with the less fortunate whether they are in
Canada or abroad always, not only when the media makes it
a circus.
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