What Would You Give Up?

[Justagirlxx]

I am the epitome of a child of Capitalism. You will never change my mind nor sway me to even consider your Socialist ideals.

 

[Justagirlxx]

I dont have any money to give, and I work stupid amounts of time, so i rarely have that either. Double edged sword.
If im gonna go overdrawn every month i want it to be because ive fed my child, clothed him, paid our rent. Not because i've spent money on all the other kids out there and not my own.

You are busy working hard to make money for your own family which is exactly what everyone should be doing. If more people were like you and less were like others who expect handouts every month, living off welfare or benefits, the world would be a better place. x

 

[moomin_troll]

i must jump in and say u dont no why people are on benifits so i wouldnt be so hard on them before u no.

but yes the world would be a better place if everyone worked and there were jobs to have, as in alot of countrys there is no jobs.

 

[PeanutBean]

I'm pretty sure the sort of kids this thread was started about was poverty stricken, starving children in the undeveloped world, orphaned through natural disaster, war, disease and the likes. I personally feel for poverty stricken kids in the developed world too but I think that is actually a different argument than that in this thread.

 

[Sarahkka]

I agree, Moomin - it's a bit sweeping to be calling all charity or aid "hand-outs", as though poverty or catastrophes were somehow the victims' fault? Even benefits - there are a lot of circumstances that can land a person there. Often times a small amount of compassion is what enables someone to climb back out and become self-sufficient again.
There are some great things about capitalistic ideas: hard work, independence, and self-sufficiency - all excellent things to strive for. But the world isn't a level playing field. We don't all start off with the same chances. That's why most of us do try to help out our neighbour, or even a stranger.
For me that's what makes the world a better place, not just taking care of your own and dismissing the rest. Definitely don't understand that mentality.

 

[moomin_troll]

I agree, Moomin - it's a bit sweeping to be calling all charity or aid "hand-outs", as though poverty or catastrophes were somehow the victims' fault? Even benefits - there are a lot of circumstances that can land a person there. Often times a small amount of compassion is what enables someone to climb back out and become self-sufficient again.
There are some great things about capitalistic ideas: hard work, independence, and self-sufficiency - all excellent things to strive for. But the world isn't a level playing field. We don't all start off with the same chances. That's why most of us do try to help out our neighbour, or even a stranger.
For me that's what makes the world a better place, not just taking care of your own and dismissing the rest. Definitely don't understand that mentality.

i wont go into details of why ive had to go on benifits (well waiting to hear) even tho it would shut people up about going on about them lol
but i agree with everything uve said here.

life is never that simple and people are always greedy. personaly i think the countrys like africa should be helped by their own government...but that wont happen

 

[Hayley90]

I personally think for charity and volunteering to WORK, things need to improve from the top. Governments of these poor countries need to be majorly shaken up, flipped over and the corrupt need to be sorted from the caring.

Only then will grassroots stuff actually have a lasting effect. If i knew that my old clothes were being sent to africa and actually GOT there without being ransacked and stolen first, id send them. As it is, i know that half the stuff we send gets no where near the end-target, so im not going to bother wasting my energy.

 

[PeanutBean]

^ That's what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan, I don't think that tactic has got us very far. There are already sanctions against various countries for crimes to humanity which include curbs in aid but that doesn't really change the system so much as penalise the innocent.

 

[Sarahkka]

I think the corruption and other problems were what the OP meant when she said that she realized that the thread question was making things too simplistic. But supposing that the aid did go directly there and have the effect we ideally hope for, what would you be willing to give up to see that change happen? I think that was the idea of this thread?
I like the question. It definitely brings that old "need vs want" thing into perspective.

For example, I love treating myself and my husband to "fancy coffee" (lattes, etc) when we go out to do chores like grocery shopping. It's a nice indulgence, but I'd rather see a child fed, vaccinated and educated. And there are several sponsorship agencies who claim that weekly coffee money can do just that. So there's a treat I'd give up.
I agree that it's hard to find that wiggle room in the budget (time or money) when the economy's down, but it's a great question to consider.

 

[Dopeyjopey]

I agree, Moomin - it's a bit sweeping to be calling all charity or aid "hand-outs", as though poverty or catastrophes were somehow the victims' fault? Even benefits - there are a lot of circumstances that can land a person there. Often times a small amount of compassion is what enables someone to climb back out and become self-sufficient again.
There are some great things about capitalistic ideas: hard work, independence, and self-sufficiency - all excellent things to strive for. But the world isn't a level playing field. We don't all start off with the same chances. That's why most of us do try to help out our neighbour, or even a stranger.
For me that's what makes the world a better place, not just taking care of your own and dismissing the rest. Definitely don't understand that mentality.

i wont go into details of why ive had to go on benifits (well waiting to hear) even tho it would shut people up about going on about them lol
but i agree with everything uve said here.

life is never that simple and people are always greedy. personaly i think the countrys like africa should be helped by their own government...but that wont happen

Massive

Benefits are there for people who need them and i'm glad they are. I don't mind my money paying a few 'lazy' people who cheat the system if it means those with a genuine reason get the help they need.

 

[Lightworker]

Justagirl- perhaps we have different understandings of the word "judge" eg if I said you were a selfish, mean person, that would constitute a judgement. My saying "it is sad" is an observation of your outlook on life, in comparison to other more altruistic ones. In anycase since you have clearly construed this thread as having a guilt-inducing agenda,why do you continue to reply? Simply say " I wouldnt give up anything, period" and move on,but you see fit to continue responding?

 

[Lightworker]

Yes I meant poverty stricken children living in countries overcome by famine, flood, AIDS etc and yes I meant it in an idealistic way, putting to one side the inadequacies of the relevant governments. Just really what lifestyle changes, if any, you would be willing to make to feed that starving orphan. Something that has come up though is the argumen of wanting to give your children the best, understandably so. But would it be so bad to ask your child to give up a toy so thata less-fortunate child can eat?

 

[Sarahkka]

Yes I meant poverty stricken children living in countries overcome by famine, flood, AIDS etc and yes I meant it in an idealistic way, putting to one side the inadequacies of the relevant governments. Just really what lifestyle changes, if any, you would be willing to make to feed that starving orphan. Something that has come up though is the argumen of wanting to give your children the best, understandably so. But would it be so bad to ask your child to give up a toy so thata less-fortunate child can eat?

I think it's a great idea and one that I would want to involve my kids in. I would want them to see the connection between choosing to live more simply and sharing the wealth.

I also try to make that attitude part of our lifestyle. For example, I do limit how much "stuff" comes into the house. We have a small house and it gets drowned in clutter very easily, so I try to have a few good-quality toys (often secondhand to further reduce our eco-footprint) rather than heaps of junk that doesn't even get played with. That's something I see a lot of: enormous excess.
Part of helping to create more equality in the world is taking care that we don't take more than our share of resources.

 

[PeanutBean]

Can I get Byron's relatives to give their money to starving children instead of buying Byron tat or would that be ungrateful?

 

[Dopeyjopey]

Can I get Byron's relatives to give their money to starving children instead of buying Byron tat or would that be ungrateful?

This is exactly what i do. Albert doesn't need any more stuff so if they want to get him something i ask them to either buy from a charity shop or i give away something he doesn't play with much to be replaced by something new.

 

[cleckner04]

I plan on doing that every year for christmas when Emma is old enough to understand. Either donating her old toys to replace new ones. So if she gets 5 new toys she has to give up 5.(keeping anything sentimental of course) Or buy a few brand new toys for a child in need for christmas. Either one seems like it would help teach her that it's awesome to help out even if it's something small. I'm more for helping kids locally than I am for children overseas. I may be a huge pessimist but I really think most of that money never really gets to those kids. I read in my recent People magazine that only 1 billion dollars has reached haiti but something like 4 billion was donated. So that is a hell of alot of money that has somehow just vanished. There are still millions of people there without a home and 58% of people don't even have access to clean water. It's something close to home for me because DH was there to help out. His ship was just starting a deployment and they ended up being one of the first ships there after the earthquake.

 

[moomin_troll]

all zanies toys have been saved for baby two and once they are done with they will be donated to a charity shop or a sure start centre.

in my eyes charity begins at home, the only charity i give to is cancer ones, which recently i made a donation in my husbands name of i think it was £200, maybe abit more i cant remember lol

likesomeone else and myself has said (cant remember names) until the countrys governments are sorted out then charity donations in my eyes dont get used like they should.

 

[Lightworker]

Ok, sorry to take this thread abit OT, and even though this wasn't the original intention of this thread, but to those that wouldnt donate to overseas, what would you like these aid agencies to do so as to convinve you that their funds are not being misappropriated? What evidence would you like to see? I'm not talking about governments, I mean specifically NGOs like World Vision, UNICEF, HABITAT etc?

 

[moomin_troll]

call me selfish all u want but my money is for my children and they are number one to me and always will be. so if it was a case of me giving money to a charity or treating my son who deserves it, id treat my son.

nothing they could do would convince me to give my money away.

 

[Lightworker]

call me selfish all u want but my money is for my children and they are number one to me and always will be. so if it was a case of me giving money to a charity or treating my son who deserves it, id treat my son.

nothing they could do would convince me to give my money away.

Waitaminute- why are you being so defensive? Who has called you selfish? Theres a feeling that some aid agencies lack transparency so I was just wondering what kinds of evidence people wanted.