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2020-08-20 Giving alms

I walked the dog in town yesterday to give $100 to each of two charities. The first charity was a thrift store run by a local one off church. The woman manning the store looked middle aged and lucky to be alive. Her skin was leathery from the sun and she had tattoos and the look of someone grateful and cleaned up from meth. I probably read her all wrong, but I don't think I read her humility wrong. She said the shop closed a few weeks ago after a Covid hit and she had volunteered to come in and open up this morning. The second place was a Baptist church where I went to donate to the Ministerial Association. All the ministers in town manage a fund to help transients and local hard luck cases with gas money or food to get them through the day. In the office were the pastor's wife and another woman with a small child. No men around as usual so they were pretty vulnerable to men/bums coming in off the street, me in this case. God love them.

We have a persistent strain of Qanon style paranoia on local social media. Lately it has been hyping fears about pedophilia. After my walk I read a thread by one of the main posters about a man walking his dog downtown trying to approach children. Someone spoke with a deputy who advised the man was known and shouldn't have been there. I don't really object to the replies fantasizing vengeance on pedophiles, but I am leery of the "friendly fire" problem. Misdirected suspicion can itself spawn great evil. Moreover, I don't think that kind of fantasizing is a good idea anyway. In the words of St. Paul, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Rather keep yourself mentally awake, and keep faith that God will lead you in the paths of righteousness when wickedness appears before you.