[opinion] What Charity Means

93 degrees, 148 degrees and 133 degrees, these are the real-feel temperature of love in our society. The notch mark of the Thermometer of Love, erected in front of the Seoul City Hall by the Community Chest of Korea, goes up by one degree for every one percent of the target amount the charity is collecting. Their target is 91.1 billion won. As of December 18, the thermometer stopped at 19 degrees, far below the level of last year. The Salvation Army is not sure whether or not it can collect its target amount of 2.5 billion with its red donation pots. It is worse than in 1997 when the foreign exchange crisis gripped the country. Is this because of the bad economy?

The watchword of “Help the needy” has been taken for granted just as “Be nice” has also. Helping a neighbor is a tradition. And it makes sense to return gratefulness and gains that we owe to the community. However, this year looks different. The real-feel temperature has been raised by corporate donations. Finding themselves in a mess over the illicit political fund scandals, corporations won’t contribute to charity, raising concerns whether or not it would meet this year’s goals. Those who have to haggle over grocery prices feel uneasy these days. When billions of won change hands with no strings attached, they believe their small sum of cash won’t help anybody. Ashamed and unmoved.

“Why do we help others? In 1975, Edward Wilson in “Social Biology” and Richard Dawkins in “The Selfish Gene” in the following year, fueled the debate against helping others, the principle that has been taken for granted. The reason why the selfish gene signals us to help others is because “if we help them when they are in need, they will help me when I am in need.” The concept of mutually exchangeable charity has been coined. The reason why we are kind to others is to attract the opposite sex for the reproduction of genes, some explained. The latest issue of Nature introduced the ultimatum game theory which alleges that if there is no mutual trust and cannot help each other with his/her needs, a relationship cannot be established.

The conclusion was that the roles of the government and social institutions are key to encouraging good behavior. Charity should be rewarded. Those who violate the rule of community should be punished. It is sad that there is no mention in the magazine of what to do when the government breaks the rule of community. Regardless of what academia says or what the government does, those who once helped others will know how their small contributions empower their neighbors and how they can make them happier. It would be nice if corporations attempt to help the needy to turn around their public images stained by illicit political donation scandals.