Generosity in The Election/Immigration

Generosity is important to many concepts in our everyday lives. One huge (and very relevant) example of this is the election going on right now for President of the United States. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is campaigning on policies like outlawing abortion in the United States and requiring a background check on all Muslim immigrants to the United States. In my last post, I referenced the importance of being generous not only with your material belongings, but also with your mind and ideas. According to the article, “Abortion and the 2016 Election, With Donald Trump in the White House, there is a high probability that the Supreme Court will overrule Roe v. Wade.” (Stone 1). This means that if elected, Mr. Trump will try to outlaw abortion completely in the United States. Not only will this have a catastrophic effect on our country, but I find this to be very selfish. I believe that allowing other people to make decisions for themselves, like choosing whether or not to get an abortion, is one that it is important to keep individual. To be generous about this issue would be to rise above your own personal opinions and to be generous with your understanding and power, allowing others to make decisions for themselves. This is an issue on which I certainly side more with Hillary Clinton’s plans for our country.

On the topic of immigration, I find this to pertain greatly to generosity as well. This is a more literal interpretation of the word: to open the borders of one’s country and let other people in to give them refuge from the violent, discriminatory realities of their home country. Syrian refugees are desperate for places to go while their country faces a horrifying war. To be generous is to provide aid for these people, to supply them with basic human needs like food, shelter, healthcare, and education. Giving our resources to support other countries is important when you are a powerful, influential country like the US. I think that it is our duty to be generous to the rest of the world and think not only of our own well being, not only for the good of other countries, but also for the sake of the morals of our global climate. However, I’m not saying this is easy. Sweden, the “most generous nation on the planet”, has taken in more refugees per capita than any nation in Europe, and the financial and social consequences of this are “tearing it apart” (Traub 1). If other countries in Europe, such as France, Germany, and Denmark, had accepted more refugees, the consequences on all of them would be lessened, and the climate of the world’s generosity could stay intact.