Charity Gives Alms, Business Gives Respect

The more I think about it, the more I believe that doing business, commerce and trade, is the most fundamental form of charity.

Author: Koutian Wu; GitHub: ktwu01

Give a man a fish, or teach him to fish. Only trade truly lifts people out of poverty. Only an exchange between equals is real charity. Anything unequal is not charity, and business is equality.

Picture the moment you donate. Where do you stand, and where do they stand? You are the giver, they are the receiver. You have extra, they have nothing. However sincere you are, the structure itself puts one person above the other.

Now buy a cup of coffee. You pay, they hand you the coffee. What is the relationship? Equal. You need coffee, they need money, each takes what they need, and nobody owes anybody. Nobody is above, nobody is below.

Alms have another problem. They do not last. A hundred dollars given today is spent tomorrow, and the person has learned nothing. Do business with someone, and they have to learn to produce, to sell, to deal with a market. Those skills belong to them and nobody can take them away. That is the fishing.

You might say merchants only want profit, so their motives are impure. I do not think motive matters that much. Outcome does. A merchant who wants to make money has to offer something people actually need, has to create value. Everyone works for themselves, and through exchange everyone also ends up serving others. That is what Adam Smith meant by the invisible hand.

I am not saying all charity is meaningless. In emergencies like earthquakes or war, direct aid is necessary. Over the long run, though, letting people earn a return on their own work is the only real respect.

Do not pity them, do not hand them alms. Treat them as someone with value, someone you can trade with as an equal.

The best charity may simply be a fair deal.