Reminder.

I get self absorbed sometimes.
Think about all the fun things I could be doing if I had money...
Travel...
Go see my Kiwi Friends, Go see my American Friends again. Go to Africa... Greece... Japan...

Go to more Rugby games... buy new heels and dresses and flash a bit of leg (separate events of course, I'm not the type of girl who would wear heels to the rugby! Heck no!).
Go on road trips for the sake of it, and have the money to not worry.

I could go on for ages...

But then I get a little reminder. Sometimes I'll see or hear something, and sometimes I just snap out of my egocentric coma... and realise there's a world around me. Far bigger than Australia. With far HUGER problems than not having the money to go see a friend who I miss.

People who so many of their friends, they can't see... not because they can't afford it, but because their friends couldn't afford health care, food, water, and their bodies finally gave up the fight.

And then I realise how Superficial I can be.
It's hard not to be. In this world I live in.

But that is not a good enough excuse to be superficial.

 

It's good to be reminded. But what am I going to do with it? Am I going to think about it, until It slips my mind and superficial me reigns again for sometime? Honestly, I don't know. Right now, I don't really have any money, I try to be as generous as I can with what I have, but still be able to pay for all of my bills. I'd like to think one day when I have more money, I'll be able to be more generous... But then I wonder if that'll be true. That would be an interesting study. Do people that earn more money, donate a higher percentage of their earnings to charity, than those who earn less money? Probably not...

Here's a little research I just did to satisfy my curiosity about the aforementioned question:

"The poorest Americans give above their capacity, donating more in comparison than the most well off upper fifth of society. Not only does this group of low-income Americans give more of their income to charity, but double the percentage of income that the richest individuals in the study do"  (link to article here)

  

 (Image Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/05/19/68456/americas-poor-are-its-most-generous.html)

I totally wasn't looking for this, but I'm delighted to discover it, in one of the three random articles google hand delievered when I typed in "do people who earn more money donate a greater percentage of their income to charity?"  I found a quote about an Adventist man. It makes me so happy when Christians are in the media for a good reason, as it often seems more likely that negative stories about christians make it into the mainstream media. 

" Herbert Smith, 31, a Seventh-day Adventist who said he tithed his $1,010 monthly disability check — giving away 10 percent of it — thought that poor people give more because, in some ways, they worry less about their money.
"We're not scared of poverty the way rich people are," he said. "We know how to get the lights back on when we can't pay the electric bill."

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/05/19/68456/americas-poor-are-its-most-generous.html#ixzz15KMiyRMx

What makes people give???
1.people who go to church are more likely to give than people who don't. They're more likely to give to secular charities as well, not just church based ones.

2. view of the government (this one makes no sense to me!?!)

3. couples and families give more, even if they may overall earn less, than single people. I think this one is pretty cool. The article suggests that the act of giving your time and your love etc. to someone else, makes you want to give more to others. (Link to Article)

So. 

Giving more, makes you want to give more... hmm...

I don't know where I'm going with this.

But I hope you found it interesting. 

I'm going to stop writing for now,

But I'm not going to stop thinking about it.

Peace

.x.