$20 is relative

Singerś claim that wealthy Americans are as guilty as organ robbers made me angry at first and thought it sounded ridiculous. But as I thought about it, I understood his point. Americans are rarely exposed to third world poverty except for their occasional summer abroad trips where they build homes in Guatemala for two weeks. Then they go home and feel good about what they did. The only difference is that they go home, feel proud of themselves (as they should) but then continue to spend money on more unnecessary things. By doing this, they waste money they could spend on more important things like future plans or donating.

Whenever I see a homelessperson, I tend to look away and rarely give away any money. Sometimes I really dont have any cash to give them, but sometimes itś simply that I only have a $20 bill, and I would be crazy to give up that much money to someone I don't know.  What I never realize is that money is relative. $20 is actually not that much for me. My parents pay for my food and shelter, and I never realized until now how selfish it is to cherish money that is probably worth 2-3 food outings for me when this person can stretch the money into more meals than that. When I think of how much money I have spent eating out, I get disgusted knowing it could have saved someone. His argument has opened up my eyes to donating, even if itś not $200, but $20.

An interesting trend that helps fight this issue is minimalism. While I am not a minimalist, I find the idea very appealing and useful. If people don't like the idea of spending their hard earned money to an organization to help others. Fine, they don't have to. But people should at leat be taught how they affect third world workers and the environment when they buy too much. More stuff = More waste and that can never be a good thing. So if you don't want to donate money, at least save yourself money by buying only things you need.