Charity

I was reading the visiting teaching message in the Ensign this month. It was about charity. I started thinking about all that I read, and a lot of thoughts went through my head. I don't think it is charitable to unjustly judge others. We don't like to give money to people on the street because we think they will use it in a manner contrary to how we think they should use it. We complain about serving the person in the ward who seems to always need service because we think they are taking advantage of people or of the church. There is more to these peoples' lives than what we know or see. We know one fact about them, and judge. It is a commandment to love all people and to serve all people. For me, I feel it is my responsibility to help take care of others. If they choose to do ill, they'll have to answer for their actions.
Something else that I've thought about is how I initially react to a news story about some horrific crime. I think Who would do such a thing?! Recently I've found myself feeling compassion for these people who are generally considered scumbags. More than that, I feel for their families. Think about it. When you think of criminals in prison, that's what you think-criminal. They are people. That is someone's brother, someone's husband, someone's daugther... They can't be summed up in one word like criminal. Think of your loved ones. What nice things could you say about them? I bet the criminals' loved ones would have some of the same things to say about them. You wonder what drives people to so such awful things and often times, they do them repeatedly. I was thinking about some of the recent mass shootings. How awful must a parent feel. I'm sure they feel some level of responsibility for what their child did to these undeserving people and they are mourning the loss of a child also. It's all very confusing.