Today I had to explain to a refugee from the war-torn plains of Central East Africa why I was unwilling to donate to the charity which he said saved his life. I said it was because I thought it was an ineffective use of my money, that I donate to an animal charity in America which saves countless more lives and millions more hours of potential future suffering per dollar than the one he touted to me. When I said this his face took on a disbelieving look and from then on, as I explained my reasoning further, he met my eyes very rarely (whereas previously he was more overbearing than a dog on heat). His voice became passive and low and I sensed in it an undercurrent of disdain and contempt--You choose animals over humans? You think this is not a good charity?--and judging from his passive-aggressive body language--torso angled to one side, eyes looking over and behind me, shuffling feet and a lowered, stiffened brow--it appeared that he wanted me to leave. Its strange that people can look on me as immoral when my sole intention in giving charitable donations is to do nothing less than the most good, to do whats best. Apparently, the idea that there can be shades of grey even among altruistic actions and institutions strikes some people as equivalent to saying that the less-good thing is simply bad; this is not true; but, that said, it simply is not true to say that if its good, its good enough.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 08:32:53 +0000
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