Topics Ethics

Question I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of granting charity, and I can't seem to form this is one question. So, I'm going to ask a bunch of related questions: - At what point does continually asking for charitable contributions become mooching (e.g., if I ask you for $5 for lunch two days in a row, is that mooching? if I ask you every day for a 2 weeks in a row, is that mooching?) ? - Are there different thresholds for different situations (e.g., a stranger on the street asking for money for a few weeks in a row v. a family member asking for money for a few years in a row)? What factors go into setting this threshold? - Does the person asking for charity have a responsibility to act appropriately (e.g., a homeless person asking for charity should be looking for a job)? - Does the person granting charity have any say in the conduct of life of the person asking for charity (e.g., a family member asking constantly asking for money to be sent is living is a depressed city, can the family member granting charity, guilt free, impose a condition of moving on the charitable contribution?)? -If you can be charitable, is there any reason why charity to family members ever be denied? I don't expect answers to all of them. Your help is appreciated.

Accepted:
July 21, 2009

Comments

Many of your questions don't have easy answers. Let me address one that does seem to have an easy answer. I don't think that the distinction between charity and mooching has anything to do with how frequently one asks for help. What marks the distinction is whether help is in needed. If you can't afford a proper lunch for yourself, then even if you ask me for money twenty days in a row you aren't mooching. If, on the other hand, you're asking for money because you don't like what you brought for lunch and instead want to go out (or because you can't be bothered to make lunch for yourself), then I would say you're mooching.