Courageous Bodhisattvas risk their lives to help others, and so, when we are in relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, then they find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason, they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. that is the way of the decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.

--from Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories, by H. H. the Dalai Lama, translated by Tenzin Dorjee