There’s a saying ‘If you’re not a socialist by the time you’re 20, you don’t have a heart. If you’re not a capitalist by the time you’re 30, you have no brains.’ But that doesn’t make me feel any better when I say ‘no’ to another person at the robot asking for money. And yet I feel that I’m doing the right thing.

Compassion is a great barometer to test whether we’re still human. It tests whether we are still connected to the greater body of living beings. Can we feel the pain when the rest of the body feels it? And just as painkillers bring some temporary relief, shoving money into someone’s hands can relieve your discomfort on the spot, but it does not improve the health of the body over the long run.

Yes, sometimes the body needs some ICU, just some food for the day, but mostly it needs something to make it strong over the long run and give it hope. If you ask really low-income earners what they would like to save for most if they had any money left after the most basic expenses, a good education for their children and a home of their own are likely to top the wish list. Instead of giving away a few coins at the robot, why not rather spend time teaching someone a few of your skills? Even just how to switch on a computer or surf the net? Or if you really don’t have time, donate money every month to an organisation that focuses on training people? Or save for an underprivileged child’s tertiary education with a government sponsored Fundisa account?

There’s an ancient Jewish tradition of not carting your entire harvest to the granary, but to leave some corn-sheaves lying on the land. At dusk, the widows and orphans would then gather these to sustain them. Gone is the agricultural lifestyle for many, but we still harvest our salaries and business profit. Do we still have faith that we can leave some of the harvest to others and that there will be enough for ourselves through the winter ahead?

I believe the incentives of capitalism are very powerful and mostly positive. It inspires entrepreneurs and grows our economy, and with it the number of jobs available. But then we need more skilled and employable people. As long as there are so many people around us who don’t have the tools to harvest, it will and should leave us uncomfortable.