Curse of Altruism

This is going to be DEEP TALK people. Time to use some of that 95% of untapped brain matter.

We all want to help others – and by all I mean those of us with a heart and soul – it’s a noble purpose and is certainly personally rewarding. However, how much are we really willing (and able) to give?

Hypothetical Situation: Let’s call you Betty. You’re 26 years old, living on your own in a one bedroom apartment – costing you $1,100 a month, add the usual utilities – cable, internet, electricity and let’s say you’re paying about $1,250 (most people pay way more). Other bills include your cell phone – about $100 per month. We’ll also say that Betty doesn’t drive, she just spends $104 on her monthly MetroCard and hopes she gets rides from friends & family should she ever need to go somewhere special. She also lives a relatively frugal existence and does all her own cooking and doesn’t eat out, adding just about $200 a month in groceries – oh she’s also Vegan so she doesn’t have the added cost of eating gourmet pig fat. We’re up to $1654 so far. Let’s say Betty doesn’t really shop too often – but obviously everyone needs clothing, and shoes, so let’s bring her grand total up to about $2,000 a month in expenses. This is REALLY low by the way – she’d probably never go to the movies if her budget was really $2,000… But this is the wonderful world of Nika economics.. so everything is possible. Let’s also say that Betty is one of the lucky few who graduated college and actually got a job. She’s also lucky enough to receive decent pay of $40,000 per year. This means that her bi-weekly net pay would be about $1,248.57 after all the taxes (according to http://www.paycheckcity.com) Which means she makes about $2,500 a month… that’s without having a life.

Let’s summarize. Net Pay = $2,500 , Net Expenses = $2,000. Are you seeing the problem yet? We’re going to assume that Betty doesn’t want to live this meager and sad lifestyle forever and actually wants to have a savings – just like any other normal person. Not to get into politics, but this is why it matters who’s in office and how they’re spending the money – because it’s only your pocket that’s going to be cut into deeper – and let’s be frank and say that aside from the douchebag cop that’s giving you a pointless ticket, we don’t see our tax dollars coming back to us.

The problem is simple – she can’t really be altruistic. Except maybe with her time, but we can all agree that time seems to slip by us when we also have goals of personal development – going to the gym, or learning a craft, or even participating in a book club, etc.

We talk about helping others like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. We should all help! But in all reality – we probably can’t. How much of yourself, your life, the future of your children could you possibly sacrifice to help a stranger? How much of living your own life can you possibly give up before realizing you aren’t accomplishing anything real and 15 years from now doesn’t look any brighter then tomorrow. You end up being just a hamster on a wheel. This also ties into a topic I feel rather strongly about: Living in the moment.

A bunch of my friends are festival junkies, namely Burning Man. Burning Man tickets themselves go for somewhere around $400 – with flights and accommodations and everything else, you could easily spend $1500 on this damn festival. Sounds awesome right?! Until you can’t pay your damn rent! Living in the moment works well – until tomorrow. Until you realize you have life and responsibilities and getting into a week long acid-trip probably isn’t worth being homeless for.

You have to plan for tomorrow, and not the literal tomorrow, but the next 3+, 5+, 10+ years. Because honestly, if you don’t, you might as well say “fuck it” to your 9-to-5 and go live somewhere doing something useful instead of living your pathetic existence the way it is. My friend Ilya suggests teaching English in Guatemala.

This is why money matters, why having a good job and making a good income matters. You have to realize that the world isn’t all butterflies and pretty clouds. That the thought of back-packing through Europe with the help of locals sounds lovely, but in the real world .. isn’t likely. I’ve been called a “corporate whore”, a “sell-out”, and even a “money-hungry bitch” multiple times, but let’s get real here: In order to help others, you have to be pretty self-sufficient first. Having an underpaid, over-taxed society only works well while there is that 1% at the top handling all the donations for us since none of us can afford it.

Would the world really be worse-off with more millionaires?