Flood

Many may be wondering how they can help those whose lives have been ruined by the recent hurricane flooding in the Carolinas. The best advice I can give is to remember a time in your past when someone offered you help in your greatest hour of need, and then either donate through whoever it was, or ask them for further guidance.

For me it was a specific organization. When my family's home burned down almost two decades ago, they were not only the first ones there to help us; they were the only ones to do so. Even as many of my longtime "friends" and "acquaintances" offered nothing more than half-hearted platitudes, this organization was there for me.

Many of those very same former friends have since dug their proverbial graves by trying to convince me of the lack of generosity of my benefactors, but the truth remains that even if only a penny out of every dollar went to the victims of natural disasters, it would still be infinitely more than the organization's detractors have done. Moreover, I give through them out of a sense of personal debt. I can of course never fully repay them for their generosity, but that has not kept me from at least trying to do so, because without their help I would not have survived.

That to me highlights the true challenge of giving, which is to not allow the seemingly daunting decision of which individual or organization to donate through prevent one from exercising one's generosity to begin with, because the latter choice is by far the more important one to make.

As always, I wish the best of luck to those undertaking this gracious and holy quest, and bid you a successful journey.