It’s not about charity, it’s about the humanity

74. I sometimes wonder what constitutes a ‘kiss’ or a ‘first time’ or ‘taboo in most cultures.’  I wonder about this for reasons that I’ll take to my grave… unless you read this and choose to e-mail me.

There are three timely things that I wish to post about today, so I’ll order them by importance and then fudge the dates later on so that you don’t feel cheated when I finally write about the other things.

I’d heard about the cyclone in Myanmar Monday, but didn’t think about it until today when I heard that the death toll might be as high as 100,000. I also heard about the damage to the local industry and the ruining of the country’s rice harvest for the year and realized how serious it was. Suddenly, I realized that my own problems (“do these pants make me look fat?”) were rather silly in comparison.

I thought about donating money to the relief effort. I mean, whenever anyone asks me for change, no matter how sure I am that I’m being cheated, I think about how I don’t need to ask anyone for anything. Even if they’re lying to me, their life is still worse off than mine because they’re coming up to me, so I don’t feel bad in giving people a few bucks.

But the worst-off American is still loads better off than some of the people in Myanmar right now. And, even if the country is refusing to give visas to some relief workers, they still need any help I could muster. Especially since the risk of waterborne illnesses increases with every passing day.

I was too young, oblivious, and broke in 2004 to donate to the tsunami relief and I was in Australia when New Orleans flooded, but now I have no excuse. Now, no matter how dire my own finances may seem, I can still afford to help out the relief effort.

In fact, I can do more than that. I can ask all of my friends to give me a small amount of money ((I’ve asked for $5-10, but they keep offering $20-50.)) and add it up to make a much greater impact than any of us could do individually. I mean, how many people don’t donate because nobody ever asked? How many don’t give money because of how inconvenient it is?

If just a few people around the world could serve as ‘bundlers’ and get others to donate, then think of the impact we could have. I’m going to try to raise some $200+ from my (college-age) friends and donate it. You could too, if you like.

I’m going to Digg and Stumbleupon this post. I hope you don’t mind.

Click below to find out more about how you can help. All of these charities have high Charity Navigator ratings and have set up special Myanmar-related pleas for help. The first few have already gotten some relief effort and supplies into the country, the rest will do so within days or hours:

• World Vision
• Save the Children
• CARE
• Unicef
• The International Rescue Committee
• International Red Cross
• World Food Programme
• Action AID USA
• International Medical Corps
• Medical Assistance Programs International
• Oxfam
• Doctors Without Borders
• Direct Relief International

74. I sometimes wonder what constitutes a ‘kiss’ or a ‘first time’ or ‘taboo in most cultures.’  I wonder about this for reasons that I’ll take to my grave… unless you read this and choose to e-mail me. There are three timely things that I wish to post about today, so I’ll order them by…