I'd rather put money into a charity closer to home as i'm a fond believer of "a Civilization is measured on how they treat their poor."
That's just the thing. What makes people in other countries not members of our civilization and thereby unworthy of our help? A line on a map? That's something I just don't understand. If you want to help people, then surely you want to help those who need it the most, right?
Hypothetical scenario: There's an old woman struggling to carry her heavy bag full of groceries right beside you and a guy bleeding to death fifty meters down the road. Whom do you help?
Real scenario: There's a kid who's bored during his hospital stay because he has no videogames to play in your country and a kid dying of hunger a few thousand kilometers away. Whom do you help?
Personally I don't really see any difference between the two scenarios. To me the answer to both is clearly the latter one, the one who needs help the most.
Cultural identities are not geographically located, though they tend to be. The point is that the best way to help others may be to help yourself. If you're too busy worrying about others, then who will be worrying about you?
There is no "needs it most." That's the thing. Who needs anything more than anyone else? If you needed it, then you require it to continue functioning. So, you cannot need it unless it was needed most anyhow.
Let's say this situation: You have a choice to make. You can post things on the internet in hopes that it makes a point or you can go out and assist with a charity. Which do you choose?
To your real scenario, there is a point. The sad fact is that giving food to a starving kid won't necessarily make their lives better. Unfortunate as it may be, they will more than likely starve to death later. So, your situation has now become continuously helping the child. Now, also assume that there are several costs that come with giving this particular child food. Depending on where this child lives, he may not even receive the food you wanted to give him. Hey, maybe it all gets seized, maybe it doesn't.
Local charities have the benefit of knowing the area they are caring for, and therefore higher probabilities of actually doing something.
So, the hypothetical situation is unfortunately this: Call 911. You can't help the bleeding guy unless you go all the way over there. And you might not even be able to help him even if you do. In fact, you might just end up killing him. But that old lady? You know for certain you can help her.
The whole point of all of this is that your money in this bundle? That isn't going to stop world hunger. Money cannot solve that problem. Hard work? That could do a dent. More of a dent than anything you paid for will have.
There's a story I know of. There's this company my friend's family owns. They are located in a third-world country. They pay relatively low wages to the workers compared to us. Seems bad, right? They should be paid at least minimum wage? Well, let's say that you suddenly won the lottery. Unless you know what to do with that money, you will eventually bankrupt yourself, usually within 4 years. So, that's how it would probably work for them. Except more people would die or have their lives ruined. So, you know what they do? Those extra wages they don't pay goes for education for their children, because they won't get a decent one where they lived before. It goes for a private doctor's office for them, because they don't know anything about medicine and a local one can take advantage of them. It goes for stable housing and fresh food and security. The reason all of this works out is because it's local. My friend's family lives there. People hang outside the company and protest about low wages, but high wages doesn't fix things. And giving food to them doesn't fix that either. They provide an entire environment. They fix the problem: these children tend to grow up and get a college education. They move up. That's the difference. Giving them food would have done nothing, because the children would still be stuck in those conditions.
Does it make this charity a more noble cause? No. But don't assume that international aid will make results, just because you think they need it more. Because you DON'T know what they need. But these children in a hospital? Tell me that it doesn't make them happy. Tell me that hospitals are not scary to some children. Tell me that these children sit there, perfectly content, because they know that a child somewhere is starving, and they're not. If you think there's a better way to solve it (I've got a good one: bring a book and read to them. I'm not even kidding. That will make their freakin' day. Kids love books read to them. Just ask their parents if it's okay.), then do it. But, local help is the best help. That's all there is to say.
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Topic: Humble Bundle V - Moar Games! (Read 12769 times)