Virtue may be its own reward, but it certainly doesn't pay the bills. And it can cost you every penny you have, as well.

Let's take the welfare state example. This is a concept that says no one in a country should have to be poor and beg. The state will provide houses, money, and medical care to those in need. But what happens in reality? You get the unscrupulous types who sign up for multiple welfare accounts and live the life of riley while old people die of cold in their apartments.

People who genuinely need charity are usually too proud to ask for it. (And pride is one of the seven deadly sins??)

Then, to make matters worse, the same welfare state opens its arms to people in fear of their life, people from other countries who could be tortured or killed. This is a good thing. But what happens? A similar bunch of ne'er-do-gooders rush in by their thousands, and take the help from those who genuinely need it. These same people will sue their councils for not providing a luxury home similar to the one they left behind in eg, Russia.

Do these people sound in fear of their lives to you?

It's so hard to know who to help these days. And how to help them. Charity, another so called virtue, has the opposite effect to the one desired. Charity has been feeding the starving in Africa for as long as I've been alive, to what effect? The people in Africa are still starving. They are probably worse off than they were forty years ago. The governments take no responsibility for feeding them or creating jobs or even providing medical care, under the pretext they have no money. But they have plenty of cash for guns and arms, and probably fat Swiss bank accounts.

It makes me understand the story of the Good Samaritan, who gave help even when there was a chance he would be mugged and robbed in helping someone. I wish I had that much love and light in my heart.