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Why do we hate it when someone gives us far more than we can

Posted 11 months ago|4 comments|513 views
Hurt & Sad
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Dave: Because, maybe, it leaves us [feeling] beholden to the other.
And that can engender a sense of inferiority (e.g. why couldn't I have done it for myself?) and jealousy (why did he have so much to give when I didn't?).

No one likes to be [shown to be] inferior. No one likes to feel inferior. Therefore whoever makes one feel inferior is a target until one's self-esteem is restored: possibly by bringing down that someone who is "superior".

Sam: Why do we hate it when someone gives us far more than we can repay?

Its a power thing. I have also noted this in real life. The people who resent you most are usually the ones who also owe you the most. Generosity breeds contempt.

And it both frightens and disgusts me to need anything from anybody. I believe I should be entirely self-sufficient, at minimum. Ideally others should be able to depend on me.
So there's a lot of shame, fear, and self-contempt involved in needing assistance.
I need assistance often. This adds to the general dislike of myself.

Fran: There's an old saying that I always take to heart: Never loan a friend more money than you would be willing to simply give him, and never borrow more money from a friend than you would be comfortable accepting as a gift. This way if times get tough and the loan is not repaid, at least it will not have destroyed the friendship.

This is one of the (many) reasons why the European Christians came to hate the Jews. They had a bizarre interpretation of the Bible that seemed to say that it is a sin to loan money for interest. So when they needed to borrow money (which, oddly enough, was not a sin), the only people who would loan it to them were the Jews. They hated being in their debt, and that hatred grew into hatred for the people themselves.

My Experience: (Edward) When I resided in Winnipeg, I sponsored my wife's family in Singapore to come to Canada. Soon after almost all of her family migrated, except one, this sister did not have an education, maybe grade 3, and was not excepted, her mother begged us to do everything we could to sponsor her as a nanny for our twin boys, the night that she arrived we had a party for her. The next morning she disappeared, we discovered that she had gone to Brandon, MB with her other sister we had also sponsored. Without informing us. The family hated me to the extent that whenever they had a family together, we were never invited.

After I was Born Again at Calvary Temple Winnipeg, Junette and I would invite six people at a time for dinner, I could not understand why some of them would never even say hello to us in Church. I never did any of the above for special treatment or to be invited back for dinner, but for the love of God.

The comments from the persons above and myself may answer some of the questions you may have, after experiencing similar experiences, the bottom line is:

When you do good, give without expecting to be repaid, God sees your heart, and you will be paid back tenfold, count it all joy.
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11 months ago: Why? Because what you, and I, and everyone likes to do is to cause an effect. This is the most basic, rock bottom, foundational thing about living things. If you're alive, you are causing an effect or attempting to cause an effect.

When people give us and give us and give us, we are not causing an effect. We are the receive point, we are the effect and not a cause. That's why.
11 months ago: Thank you for your input Terryeo.
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
11 months ago: And yet so very many have no problem taking money from the government. I'm not talking about something like what we in the U.S. have as Social Security (for which I shall be eligible in a scant 26 months) but more like welfare. You know what I mean. Programs that pay people not to work and not to reproduce responsibly.

I remember some 30 years ago when my wife had to have surgery and could not work for some 8 weeks. I was a junior enlisted in the Air Force at a time when the majority of enlisted people (all E-6s and below, in fact) would have qualified for welfare and food stamps had the regulations not specifically disqualified all active duty armed forces members. We could not live on my pay alone so my wife worked outside the home. We needed help and went to our Church to ask for aid in the form of food. Funny thing, I felt blessed, not angry or hurt of jealous. I was glad we had that resource for our time of need.

When someone invites us over for dinner, I'm glad. I thank them and figure they are getting something out if the deal so I don't worry.

We are all part of a community. As Joan Baez once wrote:

No man is an island,
No man stands alone,
Each man's joy is joy to me,
Each man's grief is my own.

We need one another,
So I will defend,
Each man as my brother,
Each man as my friend.

I saw the people gather,
I heard the music start,
The song that they were singing,
Is ringing in my heart.

No man is an island,
Way out in the blue,
We all look to the one above,
For our strength to renew.

When I help my brother,
Then I know that I,
Plant the seed of friendship,
That will never die.
11 months ago: That is true, no man is an Island. We need friends, or mix with others at a game or church, or whatever. Even if we get hurt, do good anyway. But if it gets out of hand, move on to another group.

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