One of the hardest part of being a minimalist is giving up all the stuff. Like all people, I see things and desire them, and in most cases can actually justify a purchase, but the truth is that everything ends up in the trash. Every single thing that has ever been made by man has been rendered into the dust from whence it was born. A television exists in the carefully engineered state of television for a remarkably short time. Very few of the first televisions ever made even work today, and none of them are employed to watch modern television. Where did all these millions of T.V.'s go? the landfill. Just like every favorite toy or dolly, just like everything that will be ever made. The lifetime of all things is finite.
Of course, sometimes even the grim picture of my cherished, childhood Han Solo action figure fading and decomposing into the base materials of the universe can't stop me from buying something, I must counter it with equal parts good, so I give money to charity.
The way I figure it, spending $49 on a video game is O.K. as long as I give $50 to a worthwhile cause. This equal pairing of funds slakes the immediate desire for worldly things and benefits me in the larger, universal sense as well. Getting ones mind around the idea that helping others is good for the self is a little difficult at first, so I will provide an anecdote. (Note: Never accept an anecdote as evidence or just cause of anything.)
I work with a nice lady who lost her son to violence. The details are unclear, but he was a young man gunned down over some stupid thing. He was in his teens and a poet. Personally, I love poetry, and thought it a terrible shame for this world to have one less lithe mind for pondering, so when work offered to let me leave early to attend the one year memorial service, I went. I won't bother with the details, but I will say it was sad. Really, really, sad. I wept openly and without trepidation, as one should at such times. Friends, family and even strangers rose at will to say something about the departed. They talked about the young man, played CD tracks he liked and sang songs. I have attended a few wakes, funerals and memorials, but this one was the most pure. The place was a storefront church in an old auto garage, in a really bad neighborhood, but they honored him and it felt like the walls were leafed in gold. I decided right then that guns were bad and started giving cash to anti-gun lobbying groups. No mother should ever have to bury her only child. EVER. But how much? I am not a rich man and this minimalism thing was only just starting to produce real savings in contrast to my old ways. That was when I came up with the formula:
Half for you, half for me.
If I spend $30 on something that I don't need, I give an equal sum to one of several reputable causes. This was meant to curb my spending and exercise my generous nature. Now what I get from this is important. I don't throw money away for liberal ideals, I get something for my money. If making gun sale, ownership, and possession a pain in the ass means that one more young poet lives, and one more mother doesn't have to bury her son, and that I don't have to go to these services to be reduced to a blubbering mess in front of my co-workers, well that is worth it for me.
Everyone has a story like this, and you too can try the formula. Obviously I don't ACTUALLY give half my expendable income to charity, but percentage-wise I am an order of magnitude more generous than the average American. I recommend:
OXFAM - the connoisseur's choice for charity. Focused on poverty on a global scale, the finest minds in altruism swear by it.
Lupus Foundation - a terrible disease about which, little is known.
Stop the NRA - prevent gun violence through legislation, education, and outrage.
USO - Support the troops? You fucking hypocrite, take that sticker off your truck and give to the USO.
Special Olympics - Because the special olympics are just awesome.
Pine Street Inn - This one comes right out of my check. Being homeless sucks ass.
Humane Society - I love PETA, but they are a little too extreme. The humane society is more realistic for the animal lover.
Of course, sometimes even the grim picture of my cherished, childhood Han Solo action figure fading and decomposing into the base materials of the universe can't stop me from buying something, I must counter it with equal parts good, so I give money to charity.
The way I figure it, spending $49 on a video game is O.K. as long as I give $50 to a worthwhile cause. This equal pairing of funds slakes the immediate desire for worldly things and benefits me in the larger, universal sense as well. Getting ones mind around the idea that helping others is good for the self is a little difficult at first, so I will provide an anecdote. (Note: Never accept an anecdote as evidence or just cause of anything.)
I work with a nice lady who lost her son to violence. The details are unclear, but he was a young man gunned down over some stupid thing. He was in his teens and a poet. Personally, I love poetry, and thought it a terrible shame for this world to have one less lithe mind for pondering, so when work offered to let me leave early to attend the one year memorial service, I went. I won't bother with the details, but I will say it was sad. Really, really, sad. I wept openly and without trepidation, as one should at such times. Friends, family and even strangers rose at will to say something about the departed. They talked about the young man, played CD tracks he liked and sang songs. I have attended a few wakes, funerals and memorials, but this one was the most pure. The place was a storefront church in an old auto garage, in a really bad neighborhood, but they honored him and it felt like the walls were leafed in gold. I decided right then that guns were bad and started giving cash to anti-gun lobbying groups. No mother should ever have to bury her only child. EVER. But how much? I am not a rich man and this minimalism thing was only just starting to produce real savings in contrast to my old ways. That was when I came up with the formula:
Half for you, half for me.
If I spend $30 on something that I don't need, I give an equal sum to one of several reputable causes. This was meant to curb my spending and exercise my generous nature. Now what I get from this is important. I don't throw money away for liberal ideals, I get something for my money. If making gun sale, ownership, and possession a pain in the ass means that one more young poet lives, and one more mother doesn't have to bury her son, and that I don't have to go to these services to be reduced to a blubbering mess in front of my co-workers, well that is worth it for me.
Everyone has a story like this, and you too can try the formula. Obviously I don't ACTUALLY give half my expendable income to charity, but percentage-wise I am an order of magnitude more generous than the average American. I recommend:
OXFAM - the connoisseur's choice for charity. Focused on poverty on a global scale, the finest minds in altruism swear by it.
Lupus Foundation - a terrible disease about which, little is known.
Stop the NRA - prevent gun violence through legislation, education, and outrage.
USO - Support the troops? You fucking hypocrite, take that sticker off your truck and give to the USO.
Special Olympics - Because the special olympics are just awesome.
Pine Street Inn - This one comes right out of my check. Being homeless sucks ass.
Humane Society - I love PETA, but they are a little too extreme. The humane society is more realistic for the animal lover.
