Choices

I buy a cup of coffee, a sandwich, and a magazine, and then give a couple of dollars to some street vendors. I blow $20 in a matter of minutes without giving it a thought. Except that I am giving it a thought. I keep thinking about a New York Times article that I read a couple of days ago about children who ate only two spoonfuls of rice in two days; about an entrepreneur in Haiti who is selling patties made of mud, oil, and sugar. People are buying mud patties to eat! They are that hungry! The story came back to haunt me as I watched the news on PBS as well.

Is it too big of a problem? I'm only one person. I should be saving for retirement. I should pay down my mortgage. What about college tuition?  

Here's why it's an emergency.  Draught, biofuels, and high oil prices all linked up together to create the perfect storm that they're calling the "Silent Tsunami."

Food prices have risen 83% in the last three years. Many people in developing countries spend more than three quarters of their income on food. And in places like Haiti, where they live on a dollar or two a day, many can no longer afford to eat.

You know what, I have enough. Just $15 of that $20 could feed 10 school children. I'm going to help out right now, until the world leaders find a long term solution. It's the least I can do. Can you do it too?

 

Below are a couple of the organizations that are doing the work.

World Food Program

Oxfam America

A friend of mine prefers to donate to small non profits with around 10% or less in administrative costs so that most of his money goes to the people in need. 

Below are organizations that monitor how much money charities spend on administrative costs versus programs for people.

charitynavigator.org

guidestar.org

charitywatch.org

Self Gift

The best gifts have a way of breaking through life in a flash, in a gasp, only to disappear when self consciousness moves in.

When I meet you on your terms, when I turn myself upside down, you spring to life and grace me with immeasurable joy. I forget the me and for just a second I become the you.

It never seems to happen when we schedule it. It never seems to happen when I ask for the gift. It only happens when I self-gift. 

Moments like this happen every day with fathers and daughters, with mothers and sons, and with sisters and brothers. How can we find the gift in those who are marginalized because of circumstances beyond their control. How can we find the gift in the person who we consider "the other?" 

Have you ever thought that you needed to perfect your life or make your first million before you could contribute to the lives of others? 

Maybe not. Perhaps we could give the gift of self any time even in the midst of overwhelming grief. 

Read the New York Times article about parents who turned the loss of their daughter into an opportunity to serve.