Plus I like how Norbert (#64) summed it up.

I am at the lower end of the financial scale here in the US and have often felt overwhelmed and subsequently paralyzed by the immensity of the plight of the world’s poor to whom I would seem filthy rich. I have often felt that I “cannot give because I have not,” but, in actuality, I don’t give often because I think “what good is my miniscule amount going to do?” and because, since there are times that, even if I am wise and careful in my spending, I don’t have ‘two dimes to rub together to keep warm’ and I can’t be consistent in the amount I would give, I think “what good is it to give one month and not the next?”

I stand corrected by several of the comments to this post and now see that even in my current “relative poverty” the little bit that I could contribute can help, if only fractionally, the overall amount in the bucket of contributions. Plus, I can look for ways to contribute w/ time and effort when I can’t do so financially.

Thank you for this post Steve. I really think that it and the discussion it prompted will be the catalyst to change my life – at least in the way I view how I can contribute and work to improve the world in some way.

It is a formula that has blessed all his children and has protected us from the moral dangers that can come from being hyper-educated westerners living in affluence. This pattern of thinking completely changes your relationship with money, and is a great rubric for making spending decisions, both the big (no to the BMW, yes to a well functioning car) and (in the aggregate) small, (no to constantly eating out just because we can, yes to the quick drive through because Dad is at yet another church meeting and mom is feeling a little overwhelmed). It also makes it so very painless to “give”.

There are lots of ways to build the Kingdom, it certainly means taking care of all God’s children, not just those within the Church. You give your children what they need to become contributing members, and then you extend that blessing to as many people as you can reach. Other than my membership in the church, this rubric is the best gift my parents ever gave.

That said, this has made me interested in giving more. Can I request a sum-up list of the charities that have been listed here in a single post. I know it’s lazy of me but I’d like to take the list home for an FHE with my kids to make some decisions. Maybe we’ll make a monthly budget and vote each month as a family where we’ll send it.

Maybe I should fire the Philippina cleaning lady that we have come once a week and give the money away. On the other hand maybe I should just double what we pay her so she can send it to her family at home (of course, she wouldn’t accept).

So far what I’ve found to do, little as it is, is to build up a rotating kiva fund. I’ve got one of my own and I administer another, a Perpetual Microfinance Fund, for a group of forum friends. I feel called to do much more, though.

I think we can solve this, given the will, intelligence, and determination. I don’t think we need have the poor always with us.

I also think that the subject spills into so many elements we may or may not choose to recognize.
One example was mentioned in #42. Happily and sadly, liberals and convervatives both can justify their vote in terms of world hunger (and how the other party has failed the 3rd World in some respect.) I am not sure exactly which camp delivers the goods quicker or more effectively, but I do know that the fasted route from A to B is straight. In other words, (hope I don’t offend anyone),but I am voting Democrat in November…if only for the track record of the opposition in the past 8 years. It would also be nice to have a president who inpires citizens into action by force of example. He or she can start with speaking in complete sentences. Remember when presidents did that?

I am just gullible enough to believe that an administration that is concerned about the Public Education and Healthcare of it’s own people is more likely to also care about the welfare of other nations. Oh yes, and it is about the money.

My apologies to anyone who believes that this subject is not related to the thread at hand….