HARDENED GIVER

I am more and more becoming a Hardened Giver. Churches, Ministries, Christian Organizations, Humane Societies, Smile Train for Cleft Palates, The Salvation Army, Orphans in Croatia, Miracle Workers, Prophets …whatever… etc., etc. etc. continue to send their appeals and embarrassing letters to me in the mail with the little boxes for me to check on how much I will give. Some even check one of the boxes for me as a suggestion for how much. Though I have asked them kindly (and unkindly) not to do so and have asked them to take me off ‘the list,’ it seems those computers I write to can not hear me and totally disregard my letters.

Now they send Prime for the Pump gimmicks by sending actual cash: dimes, nickels, and now 4 quarters or a dollar bill, or… a Tin Foil rendition of St. Mary or some other saint…or a trinket, calendars and mailing labels or whatever to convince me to give to their cause.

Sorry, I am now a Hardened Giver… I don’t appreciate these coercive methods of marketing. With each mailing I believe you and your methods, your letters and your rhetoric… less and less. I give only to those whom I know personally. Maybe Hardened Giver is not the right term, perhaps Seasoned and Experienced Giver is the term… all of this other stuff is not my method or philosophy or theology of giving. Keep your quarters and tin foil St. Mary’s, your pictures of Jesus on the Cross and your Olive Wood doohickeys from the Garden of Gethsemane.

“Do not let your left hand know you’re your right hand is doing.” Jesus