Givin til it hurts

CNN Money has a section called "Do the Right Thing", it's a financial ethics column. I've enjoyed it. They ran a column recently called "Giving 'til it hurts".

Question: My mother, a widow in her early sixties, works in the administrative offices of a big conservation organization. While her pay is OK, she makes very large contributions to the organization she works for. In return, Mom is duly honored. But in the meantime, she has only a small nest egg, and it’s not getting any bigger. Aren’t the development people where she works, who know that her means are limited, wrong to solicit and wrong to accept so much of her money?

Our answer: Absolutely. Soliciting money from someone for something you know they can’t afford is wrong. Period... [response continues]

The columnists response continues on to be logically sound. If the grandmother is giving away too much of her income she's presuming upon others for her support later in life by not saving enough.

But Jesus wrecks our logically sound arguments. “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

And I don't think I'm supposed to fully explain it. My reaction should be, "oh crap, I'm not even close to doing this."