What If Taxes Were Optional?

When trust in the system fades, even the most basic duty starts to feel like a burden.

Sometimes I wonder—what if taxes came with an option? Either pay the government or donate the same amount to charity.

Of course, I know why taxes exist. That’s how a country runs: roads, hospitals, schools, the entire framework of daily life. But here in the Philippines, it often isn’t visible. What you see instead are broken streets, underfunded hospitals, and overcrowded classrooms—while scandals keep surfacing.

So people end up asking: Where did my tax go? That’s when the thought feels tempting: maybe it would make more sense to just give it directly to a cause, where the impact is clear and real.

Another thought: what if people could actually choose where their tax goes? If your community drainage needs fixing, you direct it to public works. If schools need support, you channel it there. But in the present situation, it feels more realistic to just save the money and build your own drainage system at home.

That’s why people become more self-reliant—because their taxes don’t seem to have any real effect on the order of life around them.

It’s not charity that competes with taxes—it’s trust.

ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ

Nothing to Fix • Darem Placer

Listen to Unbroken Pieces of a Tangled Mind on Apple Music, Apple Music Classical, and YouTube Music

Unbroken Pieces of a Tangled Mind includes Nothing to Fix

Passaparola & Prayer 092425 Wed

Hardships are not wasted—they are the perfect place to trust God when our own strength fails.

Do Not Give Up When Faced with Life’s Difficulties

We have to endure sufferings of every kind: hardships, painful situations, illnesses, death, spiritual trials, misunderstandings, temptations, failures, and so on. What should we do? If we want to be true to our Christian commitment and live it without compromising, we have to believe that those are the most precious moments in our life. Why? Because it is precisely when we are unable to overcome certain trials that afflict our body or soul – and therefore cannot rely on our own strength – that we are in the perfect position to trust in God.

Chiara Lubich
Word of Life • July 2000

✝️ Prayer to Trust God in Difficulties

Heavenly Father, in trials we often feel weak and defeated. Forgive us when we rely only on ourselves. Thank You for turning our hardships into moments of grace. Teach us to trust You fully, especially when we can do nothing else, so that our weakness may reveal Your strength. Amen.

A prayer a day, keeps the soul from drifting away

ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ