feeling helpless

[old tree man]

Everytime you turn on the tv you see pleas from charities give £3 per month hear give £2 per month there, i feel so sorry for the people of africa and india just to name a couple who are starving, being killed, drinking dirty water, walking from camp to camp just to get a hand out while their governments sit in marble clad mansions creaming the fat off the aid that is sent to thier people, even in this country old people freezing in their own homes because they cannot afford the rising fuel costs.
I have tried to do my bit, i have walked the cleveland way the coast to coast and the bridges of london for various charities i have even shaved all my body hair off, and still feel i have achieved nothing, when you put into context the wealth that is available to a certain few ie roman abrahmovich, bill gates ,donald trump these people alone have amassed hundreds of trillions "yes" trillions and could probably sort out most of the worlds problems alone, it does make me shake with anger, so as i sit here eating what i have grown i feel privaliged that i can eat my tea in saftey with a roof over my head,
A humbling thought.

Russ

[Ellendra]

Don't know about the others, but if its any comfort Bill Gates and Donald Trump give several hundred million each to various charities every year.

http://www.kiva.org might be a place to start

[Milims]

The difference between you and Bill gates or Donald Trump is that you have done something. You have got off your backside and put some effort into making a difference. Yes these people have lots of money and they could probably give lots of money to worthy causes - but how much effort would it take them? How much would they really give? Without wanting to go all religious on you - have you heard the parable of the widows mite? The rich man goes into the temple and puts lots and lots of coins into the offetry box because he likes the swooshy noise it makes and the fact that lots of people can see and hear how generous he is. The widow puts in her very last penny and it makes a loud clanky noise as it goes down. Everyone looks sconfully at her becasue they know she has only put penny in the box. The question is - who has given more?
As you say, we, here are very lucky to be able to live in comparative safety and a good deal more comfort than many others in the world. We should count our blessings daily and do what ever we can to take care of our world, the people in it and the environment that we live in. I guess that most of us on here do just that on a daily basis by simply living the way we do. I truly don't think it's all just about money - its also about how much we care.

[Jandra]

Still, it is money that buys the food for emergency aid, not high morals and good intentions. So let each one give what he has to offer, whether it be money or effort or both.

I agree, old tree man, safety, food and shelter are things to be very glad of. It never hurts to take a moment to count your blessings.

Jandra

[DominicJ]

The richest person in the world is worth less than $100billion, which is way off several trillions.
Making up numbers doesnt help your cause.

Abolishing the CAP and implementing world wide free trade would do more to solve the problems of Africa than 10million Bono concerts

[QuakerBear]

Dear Old Tree Man,

I know exactly how you feel and how impotent.

Have you seen in the news today about Haiti? The main food staple in Haiti is now dried mud cakes. There's so many people there who are so poor and so hungry yet all they have to eat is mud! And yet we have so much and are so lucky, yet realisticly what have I done to deserve this? I'm not super good so why do I have a nice warm home, good job, new clothes and lots of food while others who are more deserving them me have nothing? Hhmm.

Then there's people I know who actively don't want to do anthing becaue those suffering aren't English and why should they give their money that they've earned and they deserve to others!

I've had an idea. I'm going to start a '101 things to do to help' list in the 101 section. As many of us are a little hard up on the money front at the mo it would be nice if we could include donations of time and effort such as marathon running or volunteering as well as money donations. Should we include plugs for peoples personal favorite charities?

This way we can collect ideas and there's bound to be something on the list for everyones ability. If we all do just one little thing on the list can you imagine size of the resulting surge in goodness.

Yeah, I'm gonna start it now....

[old tree man]

I think thats a great idea, lets see how it pans out
all the best

Russ