The days keep spinning by too quickly. Or perhaps I’m not spending sufficient time to write “daily” aphorisms! I’ll keep them coming, but I’m struggling to find enough time to write these days. I’ll keep calling them “daily aphorisms” even though they are not daily and even though some of them are not quite aphorisms.

Here’s today’s thought. We aren’t born with instruction manuals, which makes life quite the adventure in dozens of ways. Here’s a recurring question for me: How much of my time/energy/resources do I get to keep for myself and how much am I obliged to give to others as charity?

If we gave away all that we gained by our efforts, that would seem unhealthy. If we refused to help any strangers in need, that too would seem unhealthy. In the case of a person who approaches you on the street, are you obliged to give anything at all. A friend of mine once told me that she carries an apple with her. When approached by a beggar, she hands them an apple. “How tidy!” I thought.

No one I know gives away everything and very few people that I know give away nothing to strangers in need. What’s the best way to live in that middle zone? Is there a morality-free oasis, or should we always feel the pressure of helping others? What about the fact that dollars are fungible? Each time we drop $100 on a fancy dinner, we could have substantially helped the lives of desperately poor people by donating that money to a good cause.  Ten children will have starved to death in the minute you will take to read this aphorism.

Again, we aren’t born with an instruction manual on this topic. How do each of us guide our actions every day and how should we do that? Do the moral philosophers in moral theory have anything useful in the real world? I think not, and that was also the conclusion of three philosophy professors I’ve discussed this with over the years, professors who specialize in moral philosophy.

I have no conclusion here. No call to action. No suggestions. How utterly unsatisfying!