why dont we all give more?

[Nimbostratus100]

We are all aware that there is so much need in the world, and here in the UK we all have so much, yes, really, all of us, unless you are on the street or literally unable to eat today ( unlikely in UK) then we all do. I am in massive debt, very unwell and possibly losing my job. Yet I know I am so well off compared to many

There are children dying for lack of clean water this morning, while I enjoy unnecessary peanut butter and nice coffee.

I donate to charity - when I feel I can, not so much right now, and volunteer a lot, many thousands of hours over the years, again, not so much right now as I am stuck in bed, but I feel like a good person. I pray for those less fortunate, and raise awareness, etc

But I am aware I am living a privileged life while others die for lack of basic needs, water, antibiotics, food, shelter, and yet I am not particularly disturbed - why am I not disturbed? Is it out of sight out of mind, or some sort of genetic self favouring instinct - "I'm all right jack!" Or is it social acceptance, I need three coats, the cagule doesnt go with my work clothes, etc?

I could have put the money for this peanut butter and coffee into the DEC collection, but I didn't

Its not just me, its all of us, any one of you reading this has at very minimum access to a phone you are putting ahead of the needs of a child that will go blind today due to lack of antibiotics

Whats wrong with us? I know one person could make very little difference, but surely the only reason the world is so unfair is because we all, as individuals are behaving so selfishly.

Anyone else confused by this? Feeling like a good person, but knowing objectively I am living selfishly?

I’d consider food and a home basic needs not a privilege. Because some people don’t have those doesn’t make you privileged it makes them worse off than you which is sad obviously but honestly can’t support this narrative that we should be oh so greatful just because we got to eat today

there are people in the world earning in a day what I make in a year so with what I have I will spend how I please and enjoy what I can

and yes I have and do sometimes also give to charity / homeless people

This, the disgusting obscenity of billionaires
Even charities seem to exist to extract money from the poor for the benefit of the ceo at the top of the charity, poor countries are poor partly because of massive and entrenched corruption which means that very little of the money donated gets to the people who need it

As for me, I gave about 5% of my (below average) salary in charity direct debits until I went into my overdraft then I was forced to cancel them - I felt awful doing it and will restart as soon as something gives and I’m able to again.

i agree about dick waving billionaires but we can’t make them do anything. The only person I can control is me, so I donate.

there are many many parents going without food so that their children can eat in the UK !!

registered charities have to be very transparent about this.

To be honest if I was CEO of an organisation of thousands I would expect to be fairly compensated too.

And before you question why do they need to employ so many people, a person running a jumble sale will quite brilliantly make £150 for charity which is excellent. But a team of people with a joint salary of say £400k can make multiple millions with the right infrastructure and support (think Race for Life). Ultimately it is a case of speculate to accumulate. We definitely couldnt have made the progress we have with curing cancers without a large scale fundraising effort in place.

The U.K. as a nation is not under fed; far from it, we eat way too much. Maybe if people only bought what they needed and donated the rest everyone could eat? But looking around me at the number of obese people I’m not worried about the public starving anytime soon

Good question. I am on a tight budget and was thinking about the same thing when I saw some politician on TV this morning talking about helping Turkey (and maybe Syria). His suit was probably worth more than my car. But someone who has lost everything in the earthquake would see me as massively fortunate.

I do try and be a good person but whatever I don't won't be enough to make any overall difference. So its helplessness and detachment and overwhelm I think. Plus I resent rich people for being rich.

no, I am still here, reading these posts, there are actually some helpful and constructive ideas on here, that help me understand better, so I am grateful for these inputs

I heard Tim Robbins say that if you wouldnt give away a tenner when you had £100 pounds to spend on luxury items, you wont give away £1mil when you have £10 mil. Generosity is generosity.

I don't give away as much as I can, not many do - but I feel better to live in a country with a high tax system which donates to foreign aid, has national health care etc. I will continue to vote for and campaign for raising taxes - this seemed like a no brainer after covid. Liz Truss' tax cuts were vile.

not for a whole day, no, there are ample sources, I have been one of those missing meals for my children, but noone in the UK needs to go a day without food, there are degrees, arent there.

Judgment should be reserved for the very wealthy and those in charge, who could actually make a substantial difference
This, these are the people who have the real power to do things, to make a difference but instead they make rules which benefit themselves and people like them.
Making out like bandits and stuffing their boots and pockets with as much money as they can get their hands on.
twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1620798132589060096?s=20&t=N11QvNAqRJHHJNM1I4xaGw
Michelle mount swanning around on her yacht after she bilked the UK for all that money for useless PPE, all those healthcare workers who put themselves on the line and there she is laughing at us all 🤬

I heard Tim Robbins say that if you wouldnt give away a tenner when you had £100 pounds to spend on luxury items, you wont give away £1mil when you have £10 mil. Generosity is generosity.

Yep. We should all give as long we’re not in the red! People are just very ‘me and my little family’, not realising the biggest impact on their kids will be the state of the world around them rather than whether they got X or Y toy for Christmas

Re Amazon making huge profits it’s down to individual choice - not buy something from there as it’s really easy and perhaps you don’t really need it either v donating that amount.

I am more aware of what I buy but still I know companies are wealthy because I buy from them or watch their series etc. it’s easy, comfortable or entertaining

If it bothers people I guess you could stop with Amazon / Netflix / FB and donate instead

I don't donate to charity because I used to work for a big charity.

I know exactly how your hard earned donations are spent and you won't like it.

I did have a direct debit set up for Water Aid until they hounded me with aggressive and nasty calls telling me to increase my DD. In the end, I cancelled it.

They spoke to me like shit. Imagine how a vulnerable elderly person would feel being spoken to like that :/

Anyway, I donate my time instead. And so I can see tangibly the difference I make.

I eat peanut butter every day. I buy things every day that are not necessary for my survival. If I didn't, and that was replicated at scale, then vast numbers of jobs would be lost and vast numbers of people would be plunged into poverty.

I volunteered for years when my kids were small. Preschool committee, PTA, school governors.

it was never enough, people always wanted more. In the end I had to walk away for my own sanity. They wanted more and more and more from people who were already giving, and asking nothing from those who didn't help.

I could give everything I have and it wouldn't make the slightest scratch in changing the world.

It's better for me, my family and my community to focus on what benefits us and how we can make our corner of the world a better place. This is something I actively do.

It's a shame those billionaires in India don't do the same, or the ones in London, New York, Los Angeles etc. These are people who have more money than they could reasonably spend without thinking up vanity projects like space travel...yet pass within feet of people scrabbling to survive every day and do nothing.

Imagine having the resources to transform entire cities of people living in true poverty that you share breathing space with but choosing not to and hiding behind your huge walls and security gates instead. I know whose moral compass is askew...it's not mine!

I have nothing to give. When I was better off financially I had a number of DDs to charities but nowadays charity really does need to start at home. If I had more money I’d help but I can’t and can’t feel guilty about that as I’ve been through the mill financially.

People don't give because of these sorts of inaccurate and misleading myths about charities.

going out now but will catch up when I am back - thank yo for ideas and inputs.

You’re OP is wrong.

We are all aware that there is so much need in the world, and here in the UK we all have so much, yes, really, all of us, unless you are on the street or literally unable to eat today ( unlikely in UK) then we all do.

Recent surveys have shown that about 25% of people in Britain have £10 or less left over /to save at the end of the month. 10% of respondents say they have skipped meals in the last month. People in Britain simply aren’t as well off as they once were, and their purchasing power lags considerably behind average people in what used to be roughly equivalent nations: France, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Australia.

Of course we are fortunate to have been born in a safe country with stuff like the NHS, good roads, standard of schools etc and so on. But that doesn’t change the fact - the separate issue - that huge numbers of Brits either don’t have money for charity in the here and now, or are fearful that they may not a couple of years down the road. And if you want to dig even deeper you could easily argue that those aforementioned strong points - NHS, schools, and so on - are also in dire need of stronger investment, before living standards decline any further.

this

It’s completely beyond my ken how those billionaires, richest men in the world, put so much focus on trying to colonise bloody Mars or whatever instead of helping their fellow humans. I hate them (but I do use Amazon so I’m also a hypocrite 🙁).

I think the billionaires see themselves as godlike and far removed from normal people, they move in separate and far and move spheres insulated from the contaminating effect of contact with the peasants
Of course none of them would be billionaires without us the peasants buying their products and working in the factories to make the products etc

I think this is a really valid point.

I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now, if everyone here left and never came back and donated their regular coffee money it would create another problem. I think their is value in non essentials and I also think OP suggesting that we are all selfish is a horrible thing to say.

I can change the world, there are many people who collectively have the means to do so, but I am not one of them. The only persons world I can change is my own, and that is quite natural.