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Why are people more apt to help those in far away countries but have a hard time helping the poor in their own communities? What is the difference...

The argument could be made that it is easier to help someone farther away than it is to help someone in our community.


If you take the example of a hungry child in Africa, for example, most people simply write a check to a charity that sends food to that child. The person writing the check does not have to do any of the work of getting the food to the person or actually getting to know the person.


However, when we help someone in our own community, we often do more personal work to help that person. Feeding a hungry child in your own community might include writing a check, but it might also include serving food at a church or handing out food at a food pantry. Each of these would involve meeting the child and seeing the consequences of their hunger, which is difficult to do because no one wants to see a child go hungry. So, emotionally it can be more difficult to help a person closer to home. It has the potential for being much more intimate.

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