об одной филантропистке

[avva]

Джулия Уайз жертвует на благотворительность большую часть дохода своей семьи. "Для меня вопрос не в том, сколько дать, а в том, сколько оставить себе. С моей точки зрения мои деньги принадлежат тому, кто в них больше нуждается. Каждый доллар, который я трачу, это еще один доллар, который не достался кому-то, кто нуждается в нем больше меня

Comments

[ext_971979]

Привет Анатолий,
To clarify, Jeff and I are now 26 and are less acetic than we were at 24. We do sometimes eat at restaurants, and we are planning to have children.
The important thing is that we enjoy our lives about as much as our friends who spend more. We do have a small apartment and a low budget by American standards, but we have the important things that keep us happy (family, friends, books to read, music). If we were miserable, we wouldn't be able to keep this up for the rest of our lives, so we try to find the balance where we can give as much as possible without wearing ourselves down. And we do have the pleasure of knowing that our money is helping people who really need it.
I blog on this at www.givinggladly.com.

[avva]

Hi Julia,

Thank you for this clarification and the followup. Not that it's any of my business, but nevertheless I'm glad to hear that you're planning to have children. I wish you all the joy with that as well as all your other endeavors.

[ext_971979]

Cпасибо! It's been years since I studied Russian, so this has been good reading practice for me, as well!

[aerys]

Dear Julia,

I am another Russian, and I assure you that you do not have to explain anything to the bunch of highly judgmental people who are only seeking justification for their lavish spending lifestyles as well as their narrow bourgeois views.

Most of them have not earned a penny of the amount they are spending around now, owed to parents' help, ex-Soviet free education and living quarters they are using but not mentioning. Having such assets and a lot more due to widespread corruption, bribing and clan loyalty, they have never given anything back. Instead, these guys keep complaining their country is not civilized enough, despise and humiliate those in need, even dare to comment on your "unnatural or dangerous" behaviors.
Please know not all of us are like them. Your habits and altruism are your personal rights, more graceful and generous than yachts-bonds-parties investments. You are earning and giving back to communities, and be sure communities do appreciate this!

[migmit]

> Most of them have not earned a penny of the amount they are spending around now

Oh, I love Internet diagnoses!

> ex-Soviet free education

Ehm... you seem to really think that it wasn't total crap, is that right?

[oldthinker]

I, for one, think that ex-Soviet university education wasn’t always total crap. The education in Mathematics and Computer Science that I received at Novosibirsk University back in 1978-83 was pretty much world-class by the standards of the time, as I discovered years later while teaching both disciplines and doing research in one of them at a major British university. Several other ex-Soviet universities maintained the same, or higher, standards in certain areas.

Of course, the educational system in question was not really free, while being technically free at the point of delivery. The excellent education for the lucky few was paid for many times over (because of the inefficiencies inherent in the system and criminal wastefulness quite deliberately incorporated into its design) by the society as a whole, which is not an ideal set-up to put it mildly…

[migmit]

Well, I do admit there were a few - maybe three or four - islands of quality in the abiss of crap, Novosibirsk University certainly being one of them.

But I was able to observe students from both Saint-Petersburg University (another island) and Cambridge, and - which genuinly surprised me at the time - found British ones to be brighter, although not to the order of magnitude brighter.

[worden_archives]

Hi,

Since I didn't expect that you'll be reading my comment, it seems I owe you an explanation.

When I read Anatoly's question I understood that he asked not about your lifestyle or habits, but more like "what is the most likely explanation for this". So when I gave such an answer "lack of meaning in life, etc.", I had in mind a certain pattern of behavior, not necessarily yours (after all, I don't know nothing about you - you can have every reason in the world to be like this), but in general. And in my opinion, most people's altruism is really well-camouflaged egoism. Of course, there are many exceptions - as you well may be.

I am now aware that my comment can be considered rude and cynical, even insolent. So I apologize, and, believe it or not, this isn't what I tried to say.

[ext_971979]

Thanks for explaining.

[autrement_que]

Hi Julia,

you shouldn't apologize for not enjoing your life enough, this is not a point (and it looks like you do enjoy your life). You could also become a nun, give all your money away and still be very happy - but I do not like the idea that there is a morally wrong to give birth to one's own children while there are suffering children elswhere (that's how Anatoly presented your philosophy). If this is not exactly your point and you insist rather on pleasure of sharing that on the moral duty to give away - it is totally different point situation.

[logophilka]

Hurray, I'm not alone!

Everybody seems to think that we are crazy for giving half of what we make to www.poverty-action.org (where does this feeling of personal responsibility come from in a couple of atheists like my husband and me?), and have now managed to strike the same kind of balance:

Child, family, friends, books, occasional cheap travel - yes. Car, more than two rooms and stuff we don't need - no. (I'm 27, by the way.)

Have a good year:)

...да еще и славистка! Будете вдруг в Дюссельдорфе, заходите в гости. (Avva, ничего, что я так вмешалась?)

[avva]

Ничего, конечно :)

[ext_971979]

Очень приятно! Happily, we're not alone. :)
Some others:
http://boldergiving.org/stories.php?story=Mark_Lee
http://boldergiving.org/stories.php?story=Pilar_Gonzales_26
http://boldergiving.org/stories.php?story=Douglas_Tsoi_130

Balance is definitely important. We certainly didn't figure it all out right away, and I expect we'll keep changing our balance over time.

I enjoyed seeing your blog - Sasha is darling.