Charity should not lead to personal reward

Posted Friday, August 18, 2017 5:40 am

Letters to the Editor Policy

It is the policy of The Inquirer to encourage reader participation on its Opinion page. Diverse and varied opinions are welcomed. Because of space limitations, we must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Letters of 400 words or less will be published unless they contain language or content that the editors feel is inappropriate. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, grammar/spelling, length and for libelous statements.

The deadline for letters is Monday. For space concerns, letters may not run immediately in the next print edition.

Letters must either be about Gonzales County, from a resident of Gonzales County, or in response to a story that appears in print or online in The Inquirer.

Examples of content that will cause letters to be rejected include the following:

• Confusing or unclear points.

• Crude language.

• Poor taste.

• Disrespectful comments regarding a group’s or individual’s ethnicity, gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation or race.

• Other incendiary language or remarks.

• Endorsements for or complaints about individually named commercial products or services.

• Poetry.

• Personal attacks.

• “Thank You” letters that go beyond general thanks to the community; attempt to serve as an advertisement for a company, individual or political party; or is submitted in lieu of a paid “Thank You” advertisement.

We will not publish political endorsement letters or those supporting or opposing specific candidates or parties during an election cycle; we will publish letters on issues before the voters. Endorsements should be displayed in political advertising. In light of this policy, we reserve the right to reject or edit letters for references to candidates and whether or not they should be elected. The Inquirer will accept letters expressing views on bond measures, constitutional amendments and other such issues. Letters will not be accepted once early voting has begun.

The Inquirer will not knowingly publish factually incorrect information.

Only letters written exclusively to the newspaper will be published. Letters to a third party or those written to more than one newspaper are not accepted. “Wallpaper” – submissions that are in large part copied-and-pasted from another author or organization – will not be published.

Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand. Discourse should be civil and people should be referred to in a respectful manner. Letters referring to news stories should also mention the headline and date of publication.

All letters must be signed and include the writer’s street address or route address and telephone number, which will be used for verification purposes only.

Please send Letters to the Editor:

• Email: publisher@gonzalesinquirer.com

• U.S. Mail: The Inquirer, P.O. Box 616, Gonzales, Texas, 78629

• In person: The Inquirer, 622 St. Paul Street, Gonzales, Texas, 78629 (Please bring in a digital format, if possible).

Further questions may be directed to Publisher Lew K. Cohn, (830) 672-2861.

Accepting charity as compassion for others, most everyone is willing to help those seen to be in need. But our willingness can leave us vulnerable to misdirection. Whereas homegrown charity, one-on-one, is so genuine, there so many other appeals that may not be true charity.

Charity solicitation has become an industry itself; we are bombarded by mail and electronic media. How do we respond when we receive coins or gifts with an appeal knowing that much of the “charity” will end up as PR costs? And of course, contributions are tax deductible.

We know that any amount of charity cannot make a dent in poverty and need around our vastly populated planet; the reality in that tax-deductible contributions should be limited to poverty within the United States of America where there is plenty of need. Giant corporations yearly write-off deductions for charity (or bribes) in foreign countries. That should be stopped. Perhaps the whole idea of charitable tax deductions should be stopped. After all, charity is from the heart, one to another; giving to the needy should not be accompanied by a personal reward of tax deductions. That makes a falsehood as practiced.

David Cole

Harwood

Charity should not lead to personal reward

Comments

Heroes in out midst

Letter to the Editor