Is being generous really a kindness?

I am not sure how I feel about this & would like to hear others opinions.

I am always generous when feeding animals as I feel humans are often responsible for the fact they are hungry.... but I won't list the reasons as there are too many!

I don't like to see person go hungry either, but if we teach them that somebody else will provide food for them aren't we making them too dependent on that somebody & encouraging them to stop finding ways to feed themselves?
I always think that if you become dependent on another for food, what happens if they stop providing it.... as many will if they lose jobs, owing to the Corona virus?

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Basic ingredients can make a variety of tasty meals, even leftovers can be rehashed successfully. Cooking from scratch is the answer.

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Sometimes, the more you give to some people, the more they want!
Lots of people don’t mind giving and being generous, as it’s said, ‘lt’s better to give, than to receive’.

I think if they complained and said, ‘l didn’t like what you gave me last week’ or, ‘ Can you get me this flavour next week’.
Then they might be pushing their luck!

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Whats that saying.... You can only help those who want to be helped.

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

We put food out for animals and birds that come into our garden. Only thing is that the Badgers in particular come and scratch at the door if we're a bit tardy in the evenings!

The foxes, one in particular, will come indoors and snaffle Snots food given half a chance. We've got a couple of blackbirds that will happily take suet and mealworms from our hands and we put cat food out for hedgehog/s.

It's like a bloomin' menagerie!

There's an old girl in the village that's housebound who a few of us regularly pester, especially in Winter but that's just be a nuisance.

Her house is really strange. She claims to be teetotal so we can't understand why bottles of Guinness evaporate and the same happens to Harvey's Bristol Cream. A bottle just vanishes within ten days!

That's yer lot.

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Something a little more controversial
What do you think about free meals in the summer holidays for children of poor families ?
I was all for it at first but then I thought will it just be something people will get used too.
Have children without thought because at the end of the day someone will feed them

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Round here, there are always beggars sitting on the floor outside supermarkets.
I did give one a slice of cake I had just bought, but now I often see these people with about half a dozen cups of take-away coffee in front of them which kind hearted people have bought for them.
They can only drink so much of the same thing surely, so I don't do it anymore.

I have never, nor will I ever, give them money though, not when I see them sitting there with a mobile phone and puffing away on their fags!

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

I have never seen anyone put food i to the food bank boxes at the exit of supermarkets (nor have I ever done so .)

I used to give in third world countries to beggars outside of supermarkets Because they really are poor.

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

One of the cashiers in my local Asda told me a while ago, that the beggar who always sat in their foyer doorway, was seen being picked up by a nice BMW at the end of the day.
Made me a bit more wary after that.

There is a hard looking woman round here who puts a 'assistance dog' coat on her little pooch and takes it into all the shops. Judging by it's behaviour, that dog is no more an assistance dog than I am!
This is the same woman who moves around, sitting outside different shops. I saw her the other day with a fella who does the same.
They just look a dodgy pair to me.

Re: Is being generous really a kindness?

Hi

How cynical some of you are.

Food Banks are critical to some.