Alms for Amity

Time was when charity meant something. The very word evokes the alms box, filled by niggardly ancients who salve their consciences by financing new shoes and vegetables for the poor. No one can pigconhole charity that way any more.

The great medical research funds, for instance, are far removed from the apex of eleemosynary activity, the food basket. And just the other day, the Community Fund proudly proclaimed itself more of a service than a charity. It is the Combined Charities Committee, though, which has added the most to the word's meaning.

If the Committee's card is any indication, aiding hard-pressed Indonesians to rebuild their nation is now charitable (Harvard-Indonesia project). So is financing student scholarships (the National Scholarship Service) and conclaves at Salzburg where students ponder Student Problems. The term charity needed stretching, granted, but some line will have to be drawn very soon. Even now, in our gloomier moments, we can see dim visions of classmates damning us for want of charity when we fail to donate a record sum for the 25th Reunion fund drive.

This point should not be taken as a conclusive argument against giving money the way the Combined Charities men suggest (and does not apply at all to PBH, for that matter). These "student charities" are as worthy as anything else, if you prefer that sort of thing to what is normally considered charity, and no doubt they need every penny they can raise.

The primary purpose of this editorial, however, is not to rub in defects already discovered by the Student Council and presumably by the student body as well. We have our visions and our qualms, to be sure, but those of you who are reluctant to give anything at all because of them, be reassured. For there are three lines allotted for write-in purposes and there is nothing to prevent you from using them. Moreover, on the bottom of the Combined Charities brochure, passed out several days ago, there is a list of more conventional charities to consult before filling out your card.

All of these, whether actually on the card or not, further some commendable cause, be it international amity or relief from disease. All benefit people in need, and all require funds as urgently as ever before.