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These blog posts with the 'header' titles, "My Point Of View On," Parts 1 - 26, are originally from my "Paul Whiting — Math Magician" blog, which is my blog with the fewest posts. So, I decided to not group posts in this series with similar topics from that blog (unlike the blog post series with similar topics from my other blogs, which I republished on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog), because I wanted this series of posts in their chronological order, representing the way they were originally published.
My Point Of View On...
Giving Alms To The Poor
My Point Of View No. 1: Take care of all of your own needs first, so that you have the ability to help others also, if that is possible and desirable for you.
My Point Of View No. 2: Give to yourself, as part of taking care of all of your own needs first, but give to others also, if that is possible and desirable for you.
My Point Of View No. 3: Once you have taken care of all of your own needs first, then you can help others to take care of all of their own needs also, if that is possible and desirable for you.
My Point Of View No. 4: Receive help from others, if the need should arise, until such a time as you can take care of all of your own needs again, if that is necessary and feasible for you.
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., A Creative Writer)
"I maybe say too much about how life really is!"
My Writing About Giving Charity And Accepting Charity: I spend what I can afford to spend on charitable donations while still being able to afford to take care of my day-to-day needs. (The reader should know that I am HIV-positive with full-blown AIDS. And I am on Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, so my income is quite limited.) Thus, I would not make charitable donations if I was not able to take care of my day-to-day needs, since I believe in taking care of your own needs first and helping others second—that is, if it is possible and desirable for you to help others. Plus, I personally believe in wisely accepting charity, or assistance, if it is really needed; but, I also personally believe in not accepting charity, or assistance, if it is not really needed. For example, I qualify for assistance to help pay my monthly electric bills, but I don't apply for that assistance, since I don't feel like I really need it. However, if I felt like I really needed that assistance in order to help pay my electric bills, I would definitely apply for it! Therefore, I feel that you should give charity if possible, and accept charity if needed, if that feels right to you. –Paul Whiting (written approximately on May 11th, 2015, then turned into 'my writing' from my notes on July 20th, 2022, then turned into an update from the aforementioned writing on July 25th, 2022 and revised April 17th, 2023)
My Writing About Giving Alms To The Poor: I budget for "carrying cash" each month in my monthly budgets for any expenses that I may wish to pay for in cash. And I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "alms to the poor." –Paul Whiting (written December 26th, 2015, revised September 24th, 2019, revised December 23rd, 2021, revised December 24th, 2021, revised December 25th, 2021, revised December 26th, 2021 and revised July 6th, 2022)
My Writing Notes:
The reason that I wrote this prose can be summed up with the following statement: Take care of all of your own needs first, so that you have the ability to help others also, if that is possible and desirable for you.
By the way, this post was originally published the day after Christmas, December 26th, 2015, on my "Paul Whiting — Math Magician" blog: hence, the reference to the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" through the image illustrating this post, along with an encyclopedia entry quote below regarding Christmas carol, both of which are from Wikipedia.
And this prose was also published on my "Paul Whiting — Math Magician" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this prose applies to the message I am trying to convey through "Paul Whiting — Math Magician."
This prose was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://paulwhitingmath.blogspot.com
"Good King Wenceslas" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable monthly donation):
"'Good King Wenceslas' is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king going on a journey and braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the Second Day of Christmas). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935). The name Wenceslas is a Latinised version of Old Czech 'Venceslav'."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas
"Alms" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable monthly donation):
"Alms or almsgiving involves giving to others as an act of virtue, either materially or in the sense of providing capabilities (e.g. education) for free. It exists in a number of religions and regions..."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alms
This "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" Post No. 300 was edited on June 26th, 2024.
"Prose is using all of the words that are necessary in order to describe all that is necessary to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
