charity begins at home
Jan. 11th, 2007 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerI think i've finally come to understand the old saying that "charity begins at home".
In the past, i've always dismissed that as a convenient catch-cry for people to excuse being entirely uncharitable and selfishly cunty, which is generally how it's used, but it's just dawned on me that it can also have a truer, more positive meaning as well.
Put simply, if you want to get better at putting others first and doing things to help people, putting an idea like "only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile" into practice, then what better place to start than by applying that to those close to you, learning to put them first and consider their needs ahead of your own from time to time?
Of course, that needs to be just the start of the process, before getting better at looking out for other people in general. As the oft-cited addendum to that maxim says: "..but it shouldn't end there".
In the past, i've always dismissed that as a convenient catch-cry for people to excuse being entirely uncharitable and selfishly cunty, which is generally how it's used, but it's just dawned on me that it can also have a truer, more positive meaning as well.
Put simply, if you want to get better at putting others first and doing things to help people, putting an idea like "only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile" into practice, then what better place to start than by applying that to those close to you, learning to put them first and consider their needs ahead of your own from time to time?
Of course, that needs to be just the start of the process, before getting better at looking out for other people in general. As the oft-cited addendum to that maxim says: "..but it shouldn't end there".
