Addressing poverty is not just a heart issue; it’s a head issue too. Sometimes things that feel good to do, don’t really help.
“Prudence means “to see reality as it is, and to act accordingly,” to conform your mind, and then your actions, to reality. It’s one of the four cardinal virtues, along with justice, fortitude, and temperance. Cardinal is based on the Latin word cardo, which means “hinge.” These four virtues are cardinal because all the other virtues hinge on them. Helping the poor, for instance, hinges on prudence. That’s because, in the economic realm, actions have all sorts of unintended consequences. We can’t anticipate all of them. But we can anticipate a lot of them. Therefore, if we really want to help the poor, we have to exercise prudence—to know what the world is really like, and act accordingly.”—Jay Richards
