The Charity Case
So, I'm going to talk about Jack.
...
No, in fact, I'm going to talk about charity.
I wish some of the language mavens, some of the prescriptivists, some of the anti-living-language people would leave singular they and less items alone for a while and instead take up the case of charity, because it is a sad case and an interesting one.
It's hard to use the word "charity" or any of its derivatives without there being overtones of pity, and it's hard to invoke the concept of pity in our increasingly sarcastic society without there being overtones of scorn: "I feel sorry for you, I really do."
But pity should not be despised, and it should not be used as a mask for spite... and charity?
I will invoke 1 Corinthians 13:13, in no particular translation because I don't think any one translation exactly captures it. Instead, I give you my own personal mash-up version from memory:
"There abides three things: faith, hope, and charity, but the greatest of these is charity."
You've probably heard that verse any number of times, but you've probably most often heard the greatest virtue being listed as love. And you've probably heard it being recited at weddings, or if you're Catholic than maybe around Valentine's Day in CCD, or otherwise being used to refer to romantic love between two people who love each other and are in love.
Charity, on the other hand, is what you give strangers out of pity, who there but for the grace of God would go you. As I said: it's hard to talk about charity or being charitable without invoking pity, and charity is anything but pitiful.
At least, pity is not what charity should be, not what it's meant to be, not what it used to be.
See, charity is caritas (which you might recognize as the name of Lorne's bar on Angel). A closer modern English translation than "love" might be "grace", but even then the theological implications have been kind of muddied. Is grace the magic power by which God decides to let us into heaven even though our nature is sinful? Is it forgiveness? Is it something ineffable and indescribable?
No, let's leave grace out of this and stick with charity.
Charity suffers long and is kind. Charity is the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It is the Rick Astley of theological virtues. It is the love that we all owe each other, the love that no one can do anything to be worthy of but that we all deserve.
You hope your romantic love endures all things, but if it does... if you and your lover can get through all things, can suffer together and be kind to each other, that's not a virtue, it's a bonus. Charity is when you can do that with the annoying person at the next cubicle, the person you've never seen before and might never see again, the person you don't know from the garden and who you don't owe a thing. Charity is when you can show compassion for those who have declared themselves your enemies. It's when you can show it to those who you've declared your enemies.
Charity is seeing the best in everyone and wanting the best for everyone, and it is the virtue I cling to above all others, not because a book tells me it is the greatest virtue, but because it is one that I know I need and one that I know I lack.
I am not a charitable person by natural inclination, though I strive to cultivate it within me. When I am afraid of what others will do, what they will say... when I don't want to get on the internet or log into my site or check my email because I'm afraid of what's waiting for me, it is a reflection of my own lack of charity that I expect to be given so little.
Faith, hope, and charity. Faith, hope, and love. Without this love, we can have no faith in each other and we can have no hope.
So why did I think of this as a post about Jack? Because Jack is the most charitable person I know. He bears all things. He endures all things. He suffers long, and he is kind.
I used to aspire to be worthy of that kind of love. Then I aspired to give it. Now I increasingly work on the recognition that the two are one and the same.
Faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity.
Go in peace.
This entry automatically cross-posted from http://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/277033.html. Comment hither or thither. Void where yon.
...
No, in fact, I'm going to talk about charity.
I wish some of the language mavens, some of the prescriptivists, some of the anti-living-language people would leave singular they and less items alone for a while and instead take up the case of charity, because it is a sad case and an interesting one.
It's hard to use the word "charity" or any of its derivatives without there being overtones of pity, and it's hard to invoke the concept of pity in our increasingly sarcastic society without there being overtones of scorn: "I feel sorry for you, I really do."
But pity should not be despised, and it should not be used as a mask for spite... and charity?
I will invoke 1 Corinthians 13:13, in no particular translation because I don't think any one translation exactly captures it. Instead, I give you my own personal mash-up version from memory:
"There abides three things: faith, hope, and charity, but the greatest of these is charity."
You've probably heard that verse any number of times, but you've probably most often heard the greatest virtue being listed as love. And you've probably heard it being recited at weddings, or if you're Catholic than maybe around Valentine's Day in CCD, or otherwise being used to refer to romantic love between two people who love each other and are in love.
Charity, on the other hand, is what you give strangers out of pity, who there but for the grace of God would go you. As I said: it's hard to talk about charity or being charitable without invoking pity, and charity is anything but pitiful.
At least, pity is not what charity should be, not what it's meant to be, not what it used to be.
See, charity is caritas (which you might recognize as the name of Lorne's bar on Angel). A closer modern English translation than "love" might be "grace", but even then the theological implications have been kind of muddied. Is grace the magic power by which God decides to let us into heaven even though our nature is sinful? Is it forgiveness? Is it something ineffable and indescribable?
No, let's leave grace out of this and stick with charity.
Charity suffers long and is kind. Charity is the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It is the Rick Astley of theological virtues. It is the love that we all owe each other, the love that no one can do anything to be worthy of but that we all deserve.
You hope your romantic love endures all things, but if it does... if you and your lover can get through all things, can suffer together and be kind to each other, that's not a virtue, it's a bonus. Charity is when you can do that with the annoying person at the next cubicle, the person you've never seen before and might never see again, the person you don't know from the garden and who you don't owe a thing. Charity is when you can show compassion for those who have declared themselves your enemies. It's when you can show it to those who you've declared your enemies.
Charity is seeing the best in everyone and wanting the best for everyone, and it is the virtue I cling to above all others, not because a book tells me it is the greatest virtue, but because it is one that I know I need and one that I know I lack.
I am not a charitable person by natural inclination, though I strive to cultivate it within me. When I am afraid of what others will do, what they will say... when I don't want to get on the internet or log into my site or check my email because I'm afraid of what's waiting for me, it is a reflection of my own lack of charity that I expect to be given so little.
Faith, hope, and charity. Faith, hope, and love. Without this love, we can have no faith in each other and we can have no hope.
So why did I think of this as a post about Jack? Because Jack is the most charitable person I know. He bears all things. He endures all things. He suffers long, and he is kind.
I used to aspire to be worthy of that kind of love. Then I aspired to give it. Now I increasingly work on the recognition that the two are one and the same.
Faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity.
Go in peace.
This entry automatically cross-posted from http://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/277033.html. Comment hither or thither. Void where yon.