Charity Begins At Home

The United Church of Canada, in its call for charitable relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, couldn't resist taking a back-handed swipe at the United States at the same time:

We would ask members to be mindful of the many disasters that occur in the global south where the United Church has partners whose capacity to respond to emergencies is far less than what exists in the U.S.

Factually correct, but utterly insensitive.

Now is not the time to engage in some pharisaical debate and measuring of charity according to some sliding economic or political scale. A starving homeless man in New Orleans is no less deserving, because he is no less human, regardless of his share of net GDP, than one in Khartoum.