Money is better than poverty, if only for financial purposes. – Woody Allen

Spent the last hour looking at slightly different things, and not the usual camera/computer tech stuff.

Finally got round to checking my to do list on my O2 and it was about time I decided to fill up a form to donate something to charity. During the day I finished my first finance paper for this year, I was walking on my way to Borders at Melbourne Central when somebody stopped me in my tracks. Heh, it was for a charity, and having had my brain turned to mush, I stood by and listened to this guy talk about donating to a children’s charity. Usually I’d sidestep these volunteers and mind my own business.

Somehow I was persuaded to sign up to donate a monthly fee to this children’s charity (little persuasion was required). I think about these things at times, how there is a great divide in the world where some kids who have everything and don’t make the effort to better themselves because they have everything, while there are others who work daily to support their families with whatever meagre incomes they receive. They barely earn enough for one of my lunches, yet it’s that little amount that puts food on the table for an entire family.

I have always wondered about the welfare state, how in Western cultures, the unemployed are given handouts and this dependence makes them lazy. There is the current offset where they (the unemployed) are required to look for jobs and will only receive payments if they actively seek out a job. It is inherent in human nature, that there is envy, and people have a tendency to think they deserve anything and everything.

Back to me donating money. Heh, the form I signed was never implemented, due to a botch up in some of the details. Personally wondering if I can make a difference, and wondering whether my contributions will even get to be used for their intended purposes. You hear of charities syphoning off half your donation before it reaches the right hands, and even the best of intentions can be hampered by red tape in bureacracy.

Looking at taxes, personal income, personal financial management and foreign exchange stuff. Heh, not nearly as exciting as the next camera lens I want to own, but it has more value in daily life. Wondering if the world is becoming a little too materialistic, that we need to manage all these things, instead of just letting go and doing what feels right inside. Things in the world have become less abundant that we have to allocate them around. Then again, the world consumes more than it really needs just to keep up with getting that better quality of life.

Will send that small contribution out in the morning.