43. Not Your Parent's Giving

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Here’s this week’s letter:
Growing up my experience with giving was giving to my church. My parents would tithe to the church and every week they would give us kids each one dollar to put in the collection plate. To be honest, by the time I was a teenager, I would pocket the money sometimes. I felt like my parents were chumps, and blindly giving instead of really analyzing what was being done with the money. And it wasn’t just the blind faith, I think what bothered me too was that they were giving because they were told to give. Like an obligation or something. Like they were programmed to give. So, now I’m entering my middle age and I’m starting to feel like maybe I need to be more generous. I have broken ties with the church, but there are other things I care about. But whenever I think about donating, I remember my parents and their robotic relationship to giving. I don’t want donating to feel like a chore. Or a reaction to guilt. Any tips?

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