BIG MAMA SAID: Charity Begins at Home

By Terry Allen

Have you ever heard someone yell at someone, “Chile you do not have any common sense!”

They would back it up with a statement about you saying, “Baby, charity begins at home.” I know many back porches and chairs carried the same wisdom. I know you have heard many a grandmother (Big Mama) speak about their children and community neighbors. I have hard others tell me that they were filled with anxiety when they heard charity begins at home.

Big Mamas provide guidance, wisdom, and insight. A lot of things can only be learned through life experience, and grandmothers (Big Mamas) have plenty of that. They’ve seen just about everything.

My grandmother, Lucille “Big Mama” Allen, filled her three sons, three daughters, 16 grandchildren, 50 great grandchildren, 38 great-great grandchildren, seven great great-great grandchildren, along with a host of nieces, nephews, and bonus family members with strong Bible-based logic that resonated with today’s current events.

This time this common-sense logic resonates from Big Mama’s Faith. It is defined as the common-sense rule that states “Charity begins at home” applies to all Christians. The scripture stated, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his house-hold, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

So, what does it mean when she says charity begins at home? Big Mama says it mean be generous to your family before helping others. For example, she spends hours and hours on volunteer work and neglects the children, forgetting that charity begins at home. This proverb was first recorded in English.

Thanks, Big Mama! We have to mirror that need for charity when we see our communities steeped in divisiveness, misinformation and verbal and physical vitriol.

We can just look at the disparities in policing, community gentrification and more. January 6 and other acts of negative aggression in our backyard are a deep result of what is happening in the homes of many Americans.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are critical in disseminating the rapid and far-reaching spread of information. “The repercussions of mis-information on social media include such negative effects as ‘an increase in erroneous interpretation of scientific knowledge, opinion polarization, escalating fear and panic.’”

All I know is that our fears have come home to roost in our homes. I have allies, champions and friends afraid to go to the local store for fear of a hate-based shooting. They are afraid to leave their homes.

So Big Mama was right, charity begins at home. Are you able to do a household check and see what is on the mind of your beloved friends and family.

Can you do that? Email me at the paper if you take the challenge! terryallenpr@gmail.com

Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional and founder of the charity – Vice President at FocusPR, Founder of City Men Cook and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org