There is a time when giving makes you feel good, but not when you are coercing children to put money into the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund. You give children allowances--good giving. You give Christmas gifts to those you feel are deserving, that is good giving. You see someone that has been hurt, physically or mentally, and you genuinely feel like giving that person something, if only to break the cycle of bad luck. That is good giving. Some might give their parents things in their old age if they are moved to want to and the need arises.
Myself, I have given things away that I got joy from doing so. Usually, they were people that I felt deserved something. Children that had little in the way of toys--one was a family that seemed to make such a big deal out of a Happy Meal binocular that I felt deserved something fun to play. Another was when I had fun after cashing in 11,000 pennies to buy goodies for a family that had relatively little materially because their father was partially disabled. (Injured on the job--bad back.) Another time I gave someone a Walkman, about in the mid-price range because I did not want the recipient confused on programming the more advanced ones. Along with a mega-pack of batteries and several Maxell XLII-S tapes of music. The recipient of that had a mother that was disfellowshipped with an abusive stepfather and rarely got good things.
Once out of the cancer, I have given things that meant something to the recipient. One was a co-worker that ran into a string of personal bad luck, which ended as I gave them a sympathy card with a 5 toilet paper bill for a treat. While that did little to end the financial problems, it did the recipient's soul some good. Another was last Christmas, when I gave some quality lanterns to a few co-workers as Christmas gifts. Including one that subsequently found a better job--I wonder if this lantern helped by enriching that recipient on the astral enough to manifest in reality. I also gave old flashlights, after putting new batteries in them (I collected them while a witless) around my hall as Christmas gifts.
I must add that forced giving never makes anyone happy. I remember getting money that was stashed in an air conditioner I bought from a witless. And that thing, upon being told I found the money, immediately made me throw the money away (in the contribution boxes). I felt that money was completely wasted--what if I hadn't found it or decided that it came with the air conditioner? And that thing never benefitted in any way from it. I regret that act of honesty simply because I ended up having to throw the money away. Better to have kept it or that thing taking it back.
If one is going to give, it should be genuine. Except in the case of parents giving to dependent children, forced giving is never acceptable. I pick and choose who I give to. I never gave things indiscriminately while I was a witless--even when I had things to get rid of (usually playthings I bought cheap and had tested out), I had someone in mind. I even had a plan in case Brother Hounder found out about the Walkman--getting the cheapest crap ones for the runts the hounders had in mind, the crappiest tapes I could find, and recording on them the filthiest rap I could get my hands on. When you give things to people that do not deserve them, you are in fact setting yourself up for astral poverty, often manifesting in reality in time.
And that happens to children who are forced to donate whatever they get. They resent it, and that represents spending money on negative value. And that is a sure way to end up struggling with money when they get older. Sometimes this is felt in toys breaking and not being replaced, and sometimes the effect becomes obvious much later on. But sooner or later, if children give because they are forced or guilted, they are going to pay much more than the face value of what was donated.
...OUTLAW