Post 4 :: Reflection :: Quote
In The Singer Solution to World Poverty, Singer constantly reminds us that there are people far less fortunate than us in other countries -- that we should be living off necessity versus want. Yesterday, I finally got something that I'd wanted for a while now, that I'd asked for as a birthday/Christmas gift from last year. And you know, I love it. It's absolutely amazing. But it was just so... ironic; the first thing that popped into my head was TSSTWP. Do I need this? No, not really, I'd have to admit. What could all that money have gone towards? Saving lives? Taking people off the streets? Feeding children?
Isn't guilt grand?
And with that in mind, what makes the difference between donating to placate a conscience plagued with guilt and a heart that wants to give. Is there a difference? How fine is the line between kindness and guilt? Does one lead to the other, or do they both affect our decisions to help others?
If we donate out of guilt, does it mean less than a donation made from the heart?
What would we do without that sense of: "Gods, I've been blessed with this life. And yet, I feel kind of bad because this money that I'm spending to make my life fuller could be used somewhere else, given to people with needs more dire"?
II
" I, like all of us, have an occasional love affair with that which is natural, and mysterious, and beautiful. Yet, sunrises and Sephora are equally prominent on my list of favorite things. Does this make me selfish? Shallow? Or is Maria and her penchant for 'cream-colored ponies' merely the product of the idealized world that exists only in theaters and on T.V. "
-- Elise
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