Take your “economic stimulus” check and give it away (for good)
Choose compassion over consumption.
That’s the message of the “Give it 4 Good” campaign. Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, an organization devoted to supporting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, has begun a push to get people to think about the money they’ll be receiving from the government this spring.
“We have an economy that is based on overconsumption, one that puts our consumer desires above all other values,” says the Rev. Mike Kinman, EGR executive director. “It has caused us to cripple the creation with which God has entrusted us. It has led us into war. It has led us to look at our sisters and brothers around the world not as children of God but as objects in supply chains.”
“EGR has always been about spiritual transformation, and that’s what this campaign is about,” says Kinman. “The money given will transform and save lives, but even more than that the decision to choose compassion over consumption will transform hearts.”
Reading about this has got me thinking: Will buying more stuff really improve the economy? Will it improve my life? Could even 10 percent of that check make an enormous difference in the life of a truly disadvantaged person, especially if it’s given to an organization doing great work, either locally or internationally?My husband and I have been thinking about this check and the myriad ways we could use it. One of our cars is slowly dying, and during the last big storm our basement flooded and there seems to be some pretty major damage that our insurance policy probably won’t cover. These are not trivial things, and we’ll have to find the money for them some time, from somewhere.
But can we honestly say that that money is ours, that it belongs to us by some God-given right, to do with as we will? We haven’t earned it, in any meaningful sense of the word, and I at least don’t agree with the government’s policies that have made it possible. To be honest, it feels a little like taking a bribe, or accepting hush money.
I know what we’ll be talking about at our dinner table tonight. How much of that $1800 we supposedly have coming to us will we keep for ourselves–and how much will we give away for a greater good?
For more information about Give It 4 Good, including a running total of who has made the pledge and how much has been pledged, go to www.giveit4good.org.
For a list of those who have made the pledge, including quotable comments many have made when making the pledge, go to www.e4gr.org/gi4gpledgers.html.
Pamela Dolan is on staff at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Webster Groves and is a Candidate for Holy Orders. After high school in Hawaii and college in California, she earned a master's degree in theology from Harvard before spending several years in New York studying medieval religion and literature. Pamela is married with two children. 
Since the government is giving you money to spend to stimulate the economy and you feel it is “like taking a bribe or accepting hush money” you can return it. See the following link:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm
It seems dishonest to take money the government is giving you to stimulate the economy and spend it on something else.
I disagree with davel. The rebate is not a conditional one. It is your money - spend it how ever you want. I think it is a great and Nobel idea to look for the greater good outside our immediate circle. Do you truly think it is more morally correct to spend it on buying another TV or Video game machine than to help a poor family survive or educate their children here or somewhere else in the world?
What is dishonest is for the government to take our money and keeps spending it where most of us do not want it spent.
I had considered giving the money back, but I think that might just perpetuate the cycle–after all, I can be pretty certain that the government will continue making decisions that I believe are unjust. Giving the money back would be a gesture of protest, to be sure, but I don’t know what else it would accomplish.
There is also an argument to be made that it is stimulating to the economy to help out those most in need. The poor, the sick, and the hungry are a drag on our economic health, to be blunt, and so if we can do something that alleviates their suffering in the short term and maybe in the long run even transforms them viable economic operatives, isn’t that a win for everyone?
Finally, I should note (in case anyone is wondering) that I do pay taxes, mostly quite happily and on time. I’m not advocating that we overturn the economic system or refuse to support the government (which after all in a democracy is still ultimately “by, of, and for” the people). This is just a neat opportunity to take “found money” and use it for good.
Pamela