In tricking Michael Cassio to ask Desdemona for help in restoring his place as Othello’s lieutenant, Iago, seemingly driven by a raw desire for destruction, tells Cassio that the queen “holds it as a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested.” In other words, Desdemona is super-charitable.
In Othello, the charity of Desdemona leads to her death by a jealous king, egged on by Iago. It’s a tragedy, of course, so something bad has to happen to someone. In life, too, such super-charitable people suffer. Take the story of Samantha Agins, a 22-year old medic in a Pennsylvania camp for the disabled. Her efforts to revive an autistic woman led to her own death as she overexerted herself in performing CPR. Take Thomas Bennett, a 24-year-old who fell to his death as he tried to prevent a suicidal 19-year-old from jumping off a 14th-floor ledge of a dormitory in Hawaii. Take Tyler Doohan, a 9-year-old who saved six from a trailer fire in New York only to lose his own life in trying to save his disabled uncle trapped in a back room. Take all the stories of those who lost their lives in their efforts to help others. They were all people who held it as a vice in their goodness not to do more than they were requested.
What if, just what if, we held it as a vice in our own goodness not necessarily to do more, but at least to do as much as we are requested by those in need? We don’t have to be super-charitable. Just charitable.
In Othello, the charity of Desdemona leads to her death by a jealous king, egged on by Iago. It’s a tragedy, of course, so something bad has to happen to someone. In life, too, such super-charitable people suffer. Take the story of Samantha Agins, a 22-year old medic in a Pennsylvania camp for the disabled. Her efforts to revive an autistic woman led to her own death as she overexerted herself in performing CPR. Take Thomas Bennett, a 24-year-old who fell to his death as he tried to prevent a suicidal 19-year-old from jumping off a 14th-floor ledge of a dormitory in Hawaii. Take Tyler Doohan, a 9-year-old who saved six from a trailer fire in New York only to lose his own life in trying to save his disabled uncle trapped in a back room. Take all the stories of those who lost their lives in their efforts to help others. They were all people who held it as a vice in their goodness not to do more than they were requested.
What if, just what if, we held it as a vice in our own goodness not necessarily to do more, but at least to do as much as we are requested by those in need? We don’t have to be super-charitable. Just charitable.
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