Giving - Week 3 Household Covenant

It's week 3 of Lent and topic 3 of the Household Covenant is 'Giving'.

The Household Covenant states 'Giving helps build social relations rather than private capital'. That's an interesting perspective that is contrast to giving as a simple, non-rational, transfer of wealth.

We give to church, to Red Cross (for humanitarian work both in Australia and overseas) and to the Australian Conservation Foundation to help the environment. We also give a lot of our time to friends, family, church and some causes. We have a strong network of friends as a result.

We've probably given to the extent that money and time that could have been invested in career and wealth creation has been forgone. I suppose only time will tell whether that was a sensible decision. It was a compassionate decisions, so perhaps that's enough.

One idea that came out of my review, is that we could give a little less time and try to earn a little more money. That money could be well spent on eradicating extreme poverty within our lifetime. I've started reading books by Jeffrey Sachs (The End of Poverty) and Peter Singer (The Life You Can Save) that strongly suggest that we can eradicate extreme poverty soon at at reasonable cost.

Above all, I'm keen that giving be something that builds relations, not just a voluntary tax.