Step Away from the Mic, Partie Deux

Ok, so I told you about the idiot with the radio show and the BS about Katrina. Well, there's more. I don't know this guy's name. I'm rather glad that I don't. Knowing me, I'd try to listen to him again, just to prove to myself that he really is an idiot, and I really am much more enlightened. And that can only lead to high blood pressure. So, he starts talking about charity. CHARITY! Hah! He says that this storm has "totally transformed" the meaning of charity. He goes on to use Baton Rouge as an example. Over the course of just 3 days, 72 hours! (for those listeners who missed that week in elementary school, i guess), he says the population of Baton Rouge DOUBLED!!! And then he asked us to imagine that happening where we live. And he reminds us that these people (evacuees) are "poor, penniless, and on average far behind others academically". Um, OK. I'm glad you brought that up. He elaborates that some vast majority of the students transferring in to these schools are performing at levels way below their non-poor, non-penniless, obviously far superior Baton Rouge-ian (what IS that word anyway?) counterparts. Hunh. They're poor, and they've gotten an inferior education. Coincidence? I think not. What better illustration of the inequities in the quality of education available to people in different income brackets. In mass numbers we are now seeing it. Will anyone notice? Will anyone do anything about it besides considering it a liability, another hardship to the fine folks who have decided to split their city with the displaced victims of Katrina?

Anyway, he said all that not to prove my point, but to show us that charity has CHANGED. These folks are coming to YOUR town en masse, and it's not just enough to write a check anymore. I think perhaps what he was trying to say is that charity is no longer about your tax deduction, it's about getting these poor, plebeian imbeciles out of your front yard, and not letting them dumb down YOUR school system. Don't want your kids catching poor or stupid do you? Poverty is contagious, you know. And I was thinking about it. And he's so wrong. CHARITY has not changed. Not for those of us who knew what charity was about in the first place. Charity has only changed for those people who gave so that they'd have their name in print, and a deduction on their income tax. Many people have given much of their time for ages, there's never been a tax deduction for that. It's not about a check to them, because they don't have a check to write. But they give of themselves anyway. Some people give because they have generous hearts. They see a need, and they have a natural drive to try and fill it. My Grandma Ramsey is like that. I'll bet you money she's never claimed it on her taxes. Charitable people don't give expecting something in return. They don't give for self-serving reasons. Some of us have always known what charity was. For us, it hasn't changed at all. Seems to me the only thing that has changed is the comfort level of the elite.