Charity- A historical perspective

Charity comes in many forms. Whether it’s donating money or tending to the helpless, everyone at some point in their lives has done something charitable. But have you ever stopped to think what significance charity has had over the course of human history? Surely, our ancestors were also kind and compassionate to those in need. But what counts as charity? Is there a certain criterion to fill? And if so, who has filled it? The best way to answer these questions is to look to the past.

Historically, in many cases the need for charity stems from war, which makes sense as war generates a plethora of humanitarian issues, such as hunger, sickness and poverty, all of which, in one way or another, can be helped by charity. When most people think of charity, perhaps one of the first things that comes to mind is The Red Cross. It was established in 1863, when the founder Henry Dunant witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in Italy. He advocated for the creation of a national relief organization made up by trained volunteers. The revolutionary idea behind this was that wounded soldiers would be offered aid, despite whose side they fought on. This showed that the real aim of The Red Cross was to actually help the wounded. Does this count as charity? Absolutely! The services were and still are free to access for anyone. This is because the Red Cross is an NGO.

Red Cross helpers at the Biafran War (1968-1970)

However, if we look at other examples of charity, they are not always independent. One example is Florence Nightingale. Also known as the “Lady with the Lamp”, she was an employee of the British army. She famously saved many lives in the Crimean War (1853-1856) by gathering a volunteer nursing unit and reorganizing the Scutari hospital. She massively improved the sanitary conditions, established a laundry system, instituted a library and a classroom and closely payed attention to her patients, a quality not many doctors or nurses possessed at the time. Now of course, she was an employee, which meant she received compensation for her extraordinary work, however, one could argue that her attention to detail and additional effort was not part of the usual job description. She truly cared and was there solely for the purpose of helping out. Her selflessness was the factor that gave her actions charitability.

This cannot be said for other examples, such as the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program). The Marshall Plan was American aid supplied to European states after WWII. It was in the form of trade goods and financial aid, and the implied purpose was to help European recovery after the war. However, was this really the outcome that the USA wanted to achieve? At the time, there was a power struggle between to USA and the USSR. The two clashing ideologies were trying gain power in struggling Europe. Therefore, if the USA provided money that helped to rebuild the countries from rubble, they would of course get support back. This shows that the Marshall Plan was not necessarily as selfless as it first seemed. I would say it still counts as charity because the compensation was in the form of support, it was all theoretical. However, this example shows the importance of closer examination.

By now we have looked at many diverse examples of charity and can probably draw better conclusions about the factors and importance of giving selfless aid. If only we look to the past, we can find numerous examples of our ancestors helping out. Hopefully, this has also inspired you not only to help out where you can, but to also observe, ask questions and examine what charity really means to humankind.