Yesterday I was approached by 2 kids about 12 years old. The one kid looked kind of nerdy with glasses (he was holding a binder) and the other kid was a slimmed down Terio. I was getting out of my car and heading to my house when the kid said, “can we talk to you for a quick second.” I knew they were raising money and I wanted to start running down the street, but stayed to listen. The one kid starts rambling about a newspaper and how $20 (it was actually $19.97) gets him 14 points. I was on a time frame so I could only listen to this kid babble for long, so I looked in my wallet and only had 20’s. My brain started working and reasoning that asking these two youngsters for change didn’t make sense because they needed the money more than I did. I gave them the $20, signed their loose leaf, extremely unofficial paper, and walked away. Whether that money went to a newspaper or crack, I have no idea.

I know it sucks to be a door to door salesman. I’ve done this in my own capacity selling tools. You can walk into a place that won’t give you the time of day let alone purchase a product from you. It’s not fun. Unless people help you out, you get the feeling that it’s hopeless. I wanted to instill the feeling of hope in humanity by giving these kids money.

After this interaction took place, it reminded me of the dinner we had last week when our family was discussing donating and how I had no intention of giving to hurricane Irma victims. Others around the table said they gave a nominal amount or they were planning to and I post this question: “Did you donate to the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico? Or do you only donate to victims in the USA?

These are the types of scenarios that people are good at justifying in their head that what they are doing makes them feel better about them self. “I’m happy to donate to victims of this country, but that’s where I draw the line.” Sam made a good example that people in China eat dogs on a national holiday. This is their culture. To us we think it’s an absurd and cruel notion to eat a dog, but we’re perfectly justified in eating a cow. It doesn’t make sense. Everyone creates their own mentality and lives by it.

For me, giving $20 dollars to 2 kids serves a better function than giving $20 to the Red Cross in a natural disaster that is going to require billions to fix. I wasn’t thinking about writing this post when I gave $20 to brag to everyone how generous I am. My mind brings me to the conclusion that these 2 kids can use $20 more than I can. Whereas with Irma, my $20 will be lost in the shuffle. I helped 2 kids instead of buying 50 people a water bottle, giving 3% to the processing company I donated to, and giving whatever amount to the thieves at Red Cross. It’s possible those two kids spent my money on Purple Drank (I’ve been watching Power), but in my mind, it feels better.