greed and philanthropy

i’ve learned something interesting about myself. i don’t mind giving back to the community but i’m just greedy enough to want something in return.

for instance.

at the local co-op they sell nice healthy local fruits and veggies, organic and maybe not organic. i guess i haven’t looked that closely at the selections. the point is that i’m trying to eat healthier and local and they have it. you can just go and buy your groceries and walk out the door. they also have memberships.

for some small amount each month you can be a member of the co-op and get special deals and discounts and a refund percent from your purchases. as well they make loans out to farmers and organizations and help people. here’s the kicker. they have a lifetime membership as well. i’m all for the idea of helping out with a membership especially since i don’t really shop there very much. it’s almost like giving them money. but just in case i do shop i can get something back as well. so yes. i bought a lifetime membership. it does give me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that i am helping the local community and promoting healthier eating/growing practices and it also strokes and stoakes the inner demon knowing that i am getting something back in return, even if i’m not really shopping there. i’ve only shopped there twice so far but plan to do more.

i was forced into this thinking when i saw that the history and science museum was offering for a not small sum of money, a perment seat i the theater to help generate funds for renovations. my first instinct was “great! they need to keep that place up and running. i love science!!” a friend and i just went recently and it felt like being a kid again. lots of ooos and aaahs from me as i learned more information and seeing my friend’s curiosity being piqued and that hunger for information.

but then i started wondering if a permanent seat meant i could catch every show they have forever and ever. (envision evil grin and the wringing of the hands.) alas, it just means a name placard on the seat. i have a long name, i wonder if they would be able to fit the whole thing. how pissed would i be to see only part of my name if i went down that route. who would even recognize my name? in the dark they probably wouldn’t even see it. just a rough shirt to slowly wear away at my name until it is dull and letters are missing. the warm fuzzy hasn’t caught up to me yet on this one.

the warm fuzzy part of me would like to think that i could just give and not get something in return. maybe the demon has tricked me into thinking that even the warm fuzzy is a good thing but that by itself is something that i am getting as a benefit even if it is not material in nature. now as devil’s advocate if we end up getting a non material return on doing good, is it really that much difference from getting a material return as well? is there really a demon inside or just perception of one? is it a matter of which angle you’re coming at it from? the true philanthropist gives and secondarily gets the warm fuzzy but the greedy heartless bastard that i am gives knowing that he gets a warm fuzzy in return.

in the end, warm fuzzies are had and philanthropy occured. i should look up the definition of philanthropy just in case i have the idea wrong but that might make me feel bad so i’ll ignore it.

from my namesake, what does the big red guy get out of his gig? does he have sponsors funding his endevours? these are questions best left unasked or maybe best left unanswered. finding out he’s using it as a cover and is secretly an international drug runner dropping packages across the world might explain how he funds his operation but this might ruin an entire capitalistic system of milking every cent as well as ruining all the greed and guilt people might feel during the holidays…errr.. christmas season mulling over what they did or did not get and how easy will it be to return, exchange or regift it. perhaps this will be another blog to be called greed from philanthropy but i’ve done the holiday post already in a different incarnation.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

cost and effect, part 2

Return of the Money Pit

Value has its own place as a general concept but it’s hard sometimes to see why people do what they do or choose what they choose.

As a general idea/concept I can understand why we buy/obtain more than we need. I get it. You see or hear about something nice or cool and you just want it. But the part that I have trouble with is why ‘we’ buy/obtain things that we can’t afford. In same cases that is literal. You live paycheck to paycheck yet you upgrade your phone every chance you get. I am not advocating or saying that you can’t spend the money how you please but I think I don’t want to hear anymore that something else, probably more important and vital in my perception can’t be had because the money isn’t there.

Do you really need to spend $90/month on internet/cable? How about upwards of $200+/month on internet/cable/phone?

A new car every few years? The fancy car getting 15mpg when you could be driving one for half the cost and twice the mpg? Another coach/gucci purse because well because.

This also applies to eating out a lot, though sometimes one could argue you could save money by eating out instead of ‘wasting’ food at home (just throw non-meat things into the garden/compost).

I feel bad for those people on the home makeover shows or those who win a raffle for something expensive not realizing that they might be stuck with some massive tax bills that they have to pay. They couldn’t afford their current living style and now they might actually lose what little home they did have because of new bills. I don’t know if shows or raffles explains these things or not.

Dad taught that a check or credit card were essentially the same in concept. You don’t write a check if they money isn’t already in the bank and you don’t charge something unless you have the money or it really will be there when the bill needs to be paid. And it isn’t the minimum balance that needs to be paid, but the whole bill.

I’ve seen someone’s credit card statement (shown to me), the amount they still owe, and the time to pay it off with the minimums. That’s a long time and a lot of money.

I don’t know what it will take or even if ‘we’ will ever become more responsible for our own actions. I’m not talking business/corporate as they seem to be immune to many of their mistakes but as individuals honor seems to be missing more often.

Time to get back to cleaning and to increasing the things in the donation pile. Less sometimes is more.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel