Changing the World

A couple of days ago my husband handed me a book and said I should read it because he wanted to talk about it.  I read it.  He's in Chicago so we haven't talked about it yet but the book could change my life -- if I let it.  I read The Life You Can Save:  Acting Now To Change World Poverty by Peter Singer.  Here is the website.

Even with the responsibility of saving for Will's future, even though we give a tithe to our church, even though we live in an expensive state, even though we donate to other causes, even though we have four children and college to save for; we could give more.  We've been interested in micro-finance for years.  We went to a conference while my husband was in grad school and we were hooked by the concept.  Just before Christmas I went to a church food bank and spent several hours bagging fruits and vegetables and loved it.  It's amazing how good I feel when I serve others but I forget.  I get consumed with my own life and busy watching crappy TV and wasting time online.

I feel an obligation to people throughout the world.  I feel linked to them by our shared humanity but the overwhelming need and numbers paralyzes me.  What little I do is a drop in an unfilled bucket.  I should no longer ignore the fact that just because I cannot fill the bucket doesn't relieve me of the obligation to add my drops.

I invite everyone to add a drop.  Maybe if we do it together we'll inspire others to start.  But even if I, or we, don't inspire anyone else I still feel a desire mixed with obligation to help.  On this link, you can calculate how much you should give.  The number might surprise you.