As a family physician, I explore the HEART of HEALTH in my work, recreation, community, and through writing. My blog, Watercress Words, informs and inspires us to live in health. I believe we can turn our health challenges into healthy opportunities. When we do, we can share the HEART of health with our families, communities, and the world. Come explore and share with me.
This post talks aboit giving, how and why. It contrasts the self-awareness of generosity, illustrated through characters like George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol.” Both highlight life’s impact through generosity.
updated December 20, 2025
“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.
When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—to call attention to their acts of charity! ….they have received all the reward they will ever get.
But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
Have you ever made a charitable donation online or by mail, where they asked you to check a box “make my donation anonymous”? is that what the Bible means by “giving gifts in private”.
And be rewarded?
The Bible scripture passage quoted above, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, seems to tell us we should give in secret, not letting anyone else know.
But Bible scholars interpret it less literally. Considering it in the context of the whole sermon, they suggest we shouldn’t give just to impress people nor brag about what we give, not that it always has to be secretive (although sometimes it should be.)
Giving from the Left or Right
I don’t think Jesus was making a political statement here. Nor was he just using hyperbole, an exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally. But I do think he was using it to make a point.
Because not knowing one side of one’s body is a real thing.
Hemispatial Neglect
People with the syndrome of hemispatial neglect experience reduced awareness of stimuli on one side of space. This may occur after damage to the brain due to a stroke or trauma.
People with hemispatial neglect are often unaware of their condition. Friends or relatives might suggest they look to their neglected side but that instruction misunderstands the problem they have with navigating the space around them… people are not aware that something is missing, so why would they seek it out?
A single image of a human brain using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.
Source: Dr. Leon Kaufman. University Of California, San Francisco
Creator: Unknown Photographer
used courtesy National Cancer Institute
So imagine not knowing what’s on the left side of your body. Well, that’s how generous we should be; give (as if) we don’t know what we gave.
(Obviously, if we take that too literally, and waste our money,we limit our ability to be generous; we still need to be financially prudent. )
The man who didn’t know what he had given
Every year at Christmas time a classic movie makes its way to network television and streaming services. Like many famous movies, the script was adapted from a book, or rather a short story titled “The Greatest Gift”.
George was a man who had a good life until things started going wrong, so badly that he concluded his life had been a failure and he had never done anything right or good in his entire life. He even contemplated suicide.
That is until a mystery “person” came along and showed him how the world would have been without George’s life and good deeds. Poverty, crime, unemployment, alcohol abuse, and even deaths would have occurred had it not been for George’s life. And he had no idea!
His left hand didn’t know what his right hand had done.
Of course you know I’m talking about George Bailey from the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, released in January 1947, nominated for 5 Academy Awards, and considered one of the best films ever made. But most people like it because it’s a feel-good movie that can make you laugh and cry.
Of course, Ebenezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol didn’t have George’s problem. He knew exactly what he had done to help others-nothing!
It took dying (almost) and three scary visitors to show Ebenezer how stingy his hands had been, never giving anything away, and convincing him that generosity was better than miserliness and loneliness. At the end of the story, both of his hands were busy passing out food and gifts to strangers, friends, and family.
Here is a post about Charles Dickens, a renowned English writer, of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Pickwick Papers.” His storytelling introduced terms like Pickwickian syndrome, reflecting his influence on culture and health. Dickens also advocated for children’s hospitals through powerful speeches, merging his literary talent with social responsibility .
Therefore, because God is so generous to us, we’re to be lavishly generous to others. Who has been “lavishly generous” to you?
Sharing the HEART of generosity and giving
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There are always people with needs. Just a few years ago it was a viral pandemic that threatened people’s incomes. This year it’s inflation. And that creates an opportunity for us all to help.
Observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, of holiday and end-of-year giving.
a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
givingtuesday.org
“GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, it has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.”
sharing the HEART of giving
My goal for this blog is to inform and inspire us all to explore the HEART of health in our lives, and the lives of our families and communities. But beyond that, my mission for this blog is
to share the HEART of health with people all over the world,
Watercress Words mission
especially those who face hardship due to poverty, isolation, discrimination, political turmoil, hunger, homelessness, human rights violations, and natural disasters.
So for Giving Tuesday, I’m asking you to give to one or more of the groups I have featured on this blog and personally have or do support. The links below take you to stories about their mission and links to their sites where you can
updated April 23, 2024 Even if you are not old enough to remember the war the United States fought in VietNam in the 1960s and 1970s, you likely have seen the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the “Napalm girl” running down a dirt road, fleeing an attack that burned most of her body. Taken to a…
Where will you give?
Besides these places, I know you have needs in your community, maybe your own neighborhood. So look for places like a local food bank, women’s shelter, a homeless outreach, coat distribution, faith-based ministry, school, and many others can can use time, talent, and finances.
Dr. Aletha
Use these links to share the heart of health wherever you connect.
watercress words by Dr Aletha 