The Two Extremes

[#1]

Hi,

This is just my observation of life & an effort to encourage people to have more human centric society. Many extremes exist in this world. On one side there is joy, luxury and on the other we have just the opposites.

We enjoy winters, take out our sweaters, jackets & love to wear them. What about those who are not even sure whether they will survive this winter or not? Forget about sweaters & jackets, they don't even have a piece of cloth to cover their bare bodies.

We enjoy different foods. Indian, Italian, English, Spanish & many more, I guess I will be short of space if I list all the categories. And there are people who don't even know whether they will have their next meal. What they really need is just a piece of bread. These Indian, Italian, English, Spanish etc are of no significance to them. For us getting three meals is a need but for them it is a luxury.

We enjoy going to international schools, reputed colleges, get exposure to latest of technologies. What about those who have never seen the classroom? It is not that they do not want to study or they don't want to enjoy the latest technologies, it is just that they don't have the option. It is just that, they did a crime, the crime of taking birth on the roads, on footpaths.

And I don't know who to blame for all this? Why there are two extremes? Why not everyone is at same level? Why not equal opportunities for all? Why not everyone who has the luxury come forward & fulfil the needs of the others? Why the difference? Why people get punishment for the crime they didn't even do?

I don't know the answers to all these questions, but I can just ask those who get three meals to share at least a slice with those who are striving even to get one. Help others study if you have the privilege of being educated. We cannot balance out these two extremes completely  but at least we can make an effort to lessen the distance between the two end points. Just give a try. Our small effort can change the lives of many. We can make this world a better place to live for those who always question their existence.

~ Neeraj

[Former Member]

I am a bit (instinctively paranoid) distrustful of organizations which collect money for causes far away. All to often you can find information about them administrating themselves with the funds and here in Switzerland there are a whole bunch of them which have been uncovered as scams.

I prefer the option of rather going out there and giving someone a hand who needs it without any admin costs being funded in between. In winter we sponsor kids ski sport teams. In summer we sponsor a farm school in Africa. In both cases we also go there ourselves.

ps: "we" = our company (myself, Otto Gold, Matthew Billingham, and a few other friends)

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

You should always be wary of the big organizations.

Look at pink ribbon for instance, that organization spends around 99.9 percent of their revenues on awareness and not on breast cancer research.

In that specific case, just bother your local university and ask them to supply you with a list of cancer research facilities along with their bank account information.

[matt]

But what if pink ribbon's raising of awareness means that cancer research collect far more than they otherwise would have done? The general public aren't going to bother to go to the local university. You have to make it easy for people to give, and create a desire for them to give.

[Former Member]

That's a fair point.

Albeit speculative (as is the following point, mind you).

People who want to donate money have limited resources. If an organization, focused solely on raising awareness takes a large piece of the limited pie then organizations/research centers focused primarily on finding solutions will, in all probability, get less.

In any given time individuals are able to donate a total of twelve apples yearly to various organizations.

If the awareness organizations are given eight of those then only four apples remain for the others.

not really QED yet, but you get my point.

[matt]

Sure - just playing devil's advocate.