Charity is not a romantic concept or a moral idealisation. Charity means recognising the value of a person regardless of their usefulness or likeability. It is not about sacrifice or self-denial, but about a fundamental attitude: people are not tools.

Caritas does not require warm feelings. It requires a minimum of human respect: not deliberately devaluing, hurting or ignoring anyone. It is the virtue that does not negotiate dignity.

Charity is active, not passive. It manifests itself in concrete actions: listening without an agenda, helping without expecting anything in return, respecting without preconditions. At the same time, charity sets boundaries. It does not tolerate exploitation or self-destruction. It works constructively, not self-destructively.

The strength of this virtue lies in its clarity. Caritas makes relationships more stable because it is not driven by emotional whims, but by a decision: being human means responsibility for one another – not in an exaggerated sense, but in a fundamental one.

Caritas prevents social structures from degenerating into pure bartering. It protects us from judging others solely on the basis of performance, status or proximity. We see the person, not the function.

At its core, Caritas is rational: a community breaks down when no one shows consideration for one another anymore. Charity holds the system together – objectively, quietly and without self-promotion.

I deal with this because closeness is difficult for me – especially when I hardly feel it myself. Charity enables me to act humanely without losing myself. It's a balancing act that I want to shape more consciously.