Charity Never Faileth...

There's probably one in every ward...

There's a woman whom we'll call Dorothy (names are changed, obviously...) Her husband left her a little while back, leaving her with two young children. Since baptism, Dorothy had never been active in the Church at any time (friends had said she only joined because her husband--also a convert--'strongly encouraged' her to...) Until her husband left, she hadn't even kept in contact with anyone from the Church until she 'needed' something. The Church, of course, has a welfare system that is used to support those who are in need. After contacting the bishop, Dorothy arranged for the Church to pay for an apartment for her and her kids and have weekly food from the bishop's storehouse provided to her.

Dorothy currently has no plans on finding a job, nor of going to school, nor of doing anything but living with her kids off of Church welfare for as long as she can. She also has no plans of participating in church activity any more than before--her only contact with Church members is when she wants something from them. Dorothy has, in fact, relentlessly sought after 'service' from the Baroness (our RS President) and other Relief Society sisters in giving her rides, babysitting her kids, and soliciting donations of clothes, toys, and anything else she needs without any sense of self-consciousness or embarrassment.

I have a couple of thoughts on this situation:

1. Rarely have I seen anyone use such "Terminator"-like efficiency and singlemindedness in taking advantage of a 'system' for everything she possibly can.

2. And it doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon.

However...

3. Don't we need people like Dorothy, though?

No one wants people like Dorothy, of course--people who take and take and take without giving, like a black hole--but don't we need people like her in order to truly understand the principle of charity? Lack of self-consciousness aside, Dorothy has a tough lot in life--her husband abandoned her, she has two young kids under five, she has no money, nor friends or family to which to turn. She certainly qualifies as "one of the least of these my brethren". And the Church certainly has enough resources so that giving her free food and lodging isn't going to bankrupt the ward, nor take anything away from anyone else.

From a welfare standpoint (on a national or Church level), there's two primary problems to which there are no real solution: Providing welfare allows people to take advantage of free support ad infinitum without having to do anything yourself. Not providing welfare (or limiting it) means those who are truly needy won't get the things they require. Since there's no way of exactly differentiating between the two, all welfare proposals and programs run into the same double-edged sword.

Obviously, the Church always has to err on the side of compassion--there's a large enough scriptural basis for this to fill many sacrament talks--so the welfare program will continue to exist. People like Dorothy--while not ideal--are necessary, though, for the Church on a personal and administrative level to reinforce the underlying principles behind the welfare program in the first place. (In other words, do we care enough about all of God's children that we're willing to give to people like Dorothy without reservation?)

The fact is: it's easy to serve people you like. It's the serving of people you don't like--or do things you don't approve of--but are still needy in some way that shows how well you've really learned the true definition of charity. A lot of people think of themselves as 'charitable' when they, in fact, are only charitable towards those they care about, or meet specific criteria. True charity, though--the pure love of Christ--is that shown by the Savior in sacrificing himself not only for those who believed in and served Him, but those that crucified Him as well. And we need people like Dorothy who challenge these concepts and help us develop that pure love within ourselves. (The two children, of course, are the innocent parties to all this, and it's easy enough to develop the desire to help them, if not Dorothy herself--but, again, in a sense that's beside the point. Should it matter if Dorothy didn't have children?) Even though it's difficult, being willing to help all of God's children is a important and vital step in becoming Christ-like...