I GAVE AT THE OFFICE.....

Quite a few years ago I had an article entitled "It's Time to Embrace the Curly Code" published in our local newspaper. It's premise was that (based on the character Curly from the movie City Slickers) we should pick just one important thing in life .......and support that cause. You can't fix the world, no matter how hard you may try. But you can pick something close to your heart and support that one thing.

Recently I was buying groceries and the cashier asked if I would like to support.....I don't even remember what...say....Sick Kids Hospital. So I said sure, add five bucks to my bill. Fortunately I can afford the money, not everyone can.

What if you are on a fixed income and counting every penny, hoping you have enough to cover what is being rung up at the till and then the cashier asks "Would you like to donate a dollar to......?" You say no - explain that every penny counts in your household, just say no and have the rest of the line think you are really cheap or agree that a dollar would be fine and keep your fingers crossed.

Then I thought about all of the money that you could possibly agree to give at the cash register over the course of a year. This could, theoretically, add up to quite a bit and all without an official tax receipt. At least if you give one lump sum to one of these organizations directly you can get a receipt and it will be a bit of a tax break.

What if you say to the cashier or better yet, the manager, "I'll donate my five dollars if you chip in and match it." What would happen then?

I don't know the logistics of the store and charity agreement so I really don't know if the store is just collecting this money (probably) and turning it over or they get some kickback. I do feel that if the store chain thinks this is such a worthy cause then THEY should be giving a good size chunk of their profits to prove it.

With all of the charities in the world, and the new daily disasters, it is hard to decide exactly where your dollars should go. Personally I worry about giving money to anywhere overseas. I have heard stories of aid not arriving where it should be, or it being hijacked and then sold to the highest bidder. Hey, wait a minute that shouldn't be happening - but who is going to argue with people with guns???

Another conundrum is the cost of the charity doing business. We have all seen the Internet listings of the top charities and how much the administrators receive for doing their work. I don't want 48 cents of every dollar I give going to some fat cats lake house. If you have to pay those kinds of wages then I expect these people to get out and do their jobs....not pass the collecting responsibility off to grocery clerks to gather the funds for them.

Bottom line - it is your money and no one should humiliate you into giving to a charity.

Last year I received a phone call from a charity asking for a donation and when I said that all my giving is to the Humane Society the woman replied....

"You would rather give your money to animals than to children??????"

I was......well......pissed. I did call that charity to complain and the person I spoke to was very apologetic.

Recently, on a Facebook posting, my niece showed the elephants that Bob Barker had rescued - at his own expense. One of the comments underneath was that, in her opinion, the person thought it would have been "better" to give some of that money to humans instead.  REALLY?? Needless to say I did let my fingers do the talking and tried very  hard to state (nicely) that it was Bob's money and she had no business telling anyone where their dollars should go.

It's a big world out there folks and there will always be someone or something in need. How you give or not is your business and you shouldn't be hijacked into doing something you aren't comfortable with....and you shouldn't have to explain your reasons to anyone.

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Things I learned:

Bronies  are grown men who like to watch My Little Pony shows. They actually have conventions; wearing brightly coloured long synthetic wigs and little pony ears....and wings.

"You can relate to everything about My Little Pony. The real life situations make me a better person." They say......

There is even a song written by BlackGryphon who describes himself such:
"I am an ex U.S. Navy veteran, scuba and sky diver, animator and musician and I'd like to be a tree.  Actually there are many, many songs if you go on Youtube." Thanks BlackG, but I think I'll just skip them for now.

It's innocent....in a strange way. Clubs of all sorts - hobby, sports, gardening, bridge - have the shared common interest and the belonging to something/someone. But I don't want my husband to become my little pony any time soon.....nnneeeeyyyy.

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Princess Anne is advocating eating horsemeat because then "the owner might take better care of the horses" Well, right up until the time when they are shipped off to the packing plant.

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Lady Gaga has a flying dress. And she thinks she would like to share it with all of us so we can have one too........while she was saying this she was dressed in what looked very much like a NASA uniform.

I have heard of Reefer Madness but I have never before witnessed it.

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I don't want to visit or live in Berens River, Manitoba. After a day of heavy drinking a man was stabbed by his girlfriend. And then when he stumbled off to get help he was hit by not one BUT TWO drunk drivers. Autopsy showed he bled out because the stabbing nicked a vein, so his girlfriend is up on charges. I have no idea what is happening to the two drunk drivers.