Have you ever noticed that people who say "Charity begins at home" sometimes mean it rather TOO literally?

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I saw an interesting discussion on Facebook recently about the Syrian refugee crisis. The point it made was that suddenly lots of people are trotting out the old "Charity begins at home" line when faced with the need for European countries to support the refugees. The poster of this discussion pointed out that the very same people suddenly got a (publicly expressed) conscience about the homeless, the poor, and the needy in their own country that hadn't been something they cared about just a week or two before. If you don't have the heart to care about people drowning in the Med and walking hundreds of miles for a better future, chances are you don't really care about the homeless back home either. Charity begins at home tends to mean one of two things. Either "I only give money to charities that are directly relevant to me" or more extremely "It's my money, I need it more than other people do so they can forget getting a penny out of me". I know full well that not everyone can afford to make charitable donations and that's fine. Like many things in life, giving away money is a luxury that not everyone can indulge in. I understand the need to protect yourself and your family first. BUT don't then trot out all this "Charity begins at home" nonsense like some sanctimonious prig if you're the kind of person who is still recycling last year's paper poppies and taking a detour to avoid anyone with a collection tin. If you don't have the resources to help others, I understand but if you simply don't WANT to help others, it's your choice. Just don't try to dress it up as anything other than not caring enough.