Not Needing Stimulation
I’ve been reading some lately about people receiving their stimulus packages from the government. Stimulus package is more likely just code for “free money in an election year”. But I don’t want to get into the silliness (aka politics) of it, especially the part about how stupid and deceptive it is.
Since its already happening, and already has been delivered to the lucky few out there who signed up for direct deposit, I’d rather talk about what happens next. The blogs and emails I’ve read and friends who’ve mentioned their plans have usually been along the lines of what they’re going to or already have spent the money on.
More than just a thought has occured to me about what to do with the money. I’m not in a situation in life where I can say I need the money. Even a year ago when I made considerably less would I have said do I truly need the money. Besides, “need” usually derives from saying I “need” something else and therefore need the money for it. Do I “need” more stuff? More dvds? More books? More $4 coffee? More toys, more hobbies, more furniture, more crap that continues to add to my mentality of materialism.
I’m not saying that there aren’t people out there who it will truly truly help in the most important of ways. But for the rest of us who know we’re just going to throw it into more stuff that we don’t really need, how about we give it away? Why not give it to someone who does, a friend with medical situations, a non-profit attempting to save lives, or for you Christians out there, a missions program to reach the world? Who cares if the purpose of the $100 billion dollars was meant to be spent within the US economy. Send it where it matters. What if instead that money had been put into humanitarianism, anywhere in the world. Even just in the US? Even 1% of it ($10 million) were spent more responsibly it would make a huge difference. Those are numbers way too big to comprehend.
I think selfishness is the most serious of vices. Begin looking into your life and true intentions and you’ll find it everywhere. Winston Churchill said that “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the quality that guarantees all others”, meaning that basically all virtue derives from courage. I think similarly, on the opposite side of the spectrum, all vice derives from selfishness, either overt or covert. There isn’t a lot of true understanding into what the Fallenness of man truly is. Its one of the abstract ideas I’ve talked about previously. In a nutshell, man thinks he is God. The implications of this results in Fallen Humanity.
Anyway, I haven’t received my check yet. Neither have I decided where to send it. But I don’t need it.
Please let me know what you all out there think about this idea. Here’s a list of some causes I’ve seen around lately that could use it:
RSS Feed
RSS by Email
yea man… this is interesting the way our culture assess a problem. the solution. more. more. more.
so i love the idea. to live in a way other than that message of more. give. give. give.
i also heard about these people that came up with a project around this too. its on my blog. “economic stimulus project”
dude, i’m with on this.
REAL HOPE FOR HAITI is in danger of shutting down because of lack of resources. thanks for mentioning them. next week, we’re going to be doing some blogging about getting them on track with resources. if everyone gives a little, it goes a long way.
thanks for writing this!
Thanks fellas for weighing in on the conversation.
FOR ALL YOU OUT THERE here’s a link to the Economic Stimulus Project that Sam mentioned
And if you’re too lazy to click the link above, here’s a few stats from the page:
1.1 Billion people have no reliable source of clean water. It would take approximately $10 billion to fix that.
For another $11 Billion, Malaria cases could be cut by 90%, increasing annual economic output by as much as $30 billion in Africa, prevent 672 million malaria cases, and free up 427,000 needed hospital beds over five years.
It doesn’t matter what the issue is, Americans have the resources to help. Make a choice today to reject the trap of consumerism and debt, and instead invest your resources into that which gives life.
A few things:
First, why the heck aren’t these earthquakes and cyclones receiving more attention? The sheer number of death truly is mind-boggling. Who cares about Obama when 100,000 lay dead in the face of just one of these natural disasters? It’s surprising that nature has that kind of destructive capabilities.
Second, I’m glad you said that bit about selfishness being the father of vices. I read that first line and thought to myself “hmmm… I wouldn’t say selfishness is a vice, rather the cause of vices.” But then you went on to clarify and you rock as always.
Laslty, I saw a guy as I was leaving graduation today who had a bumper sticker that read “I’d rather be God.” It was right next to an Obama ‘08 sticker and a Darwin fish. I don’t exactly know what he was getting at, but I’d assume it has something to do with the fact that he thinks man is god in effect… lame.
[...] chalk this entire issue up to selfishness (the root of all vice) and its resulting irresponsibility. Irresponsibility both to the world in which we live and the [...]