I have a problem: cognitive dissonance.
Normally, this occurs in two situations: eating and dating.
Why is it that when something or someone looks so good, they're so bad for you?
Cases in point: What I want.
What I should want:
Who I want:
(trust me, these guys are POISON)
Who I should want. One of my best friends. Why don't I want to fuck him?
He's wonderful, good-looking, good job, nice house...the works.
I'm demented.
And on to the actual subject of this blog... (see title).
I'm a charitable person. We give to a number of causes, by automated credit card transfers, so our fave charities are always covered: Soi Dog, Wikimedia, Doctors Without Borders, Justice Without Borders and the like. I try to choose one from each category: people, animals, the environment etc etc.
So why do I tear apart mailed solicitations, with a grumble and a muttered curse (those asshats should spend less on mailers...)???
Why am I a mega-bitch when someone from the Policemen's Widows Association and the like call on the phone (usually during dinner)??? S/he's just doing a job. S/he doesn't intend to offend me, but I find them SO ANNOYING.
I'm especially offended when they browbeat my mom, an elderly Alzheimer's patient, into pledging.
I don't yell, curse or swear, but these occasions my inner bitch often slips the tight rein I try to keep her on. I have been known to hang up on people, interrupt them--if I even bother to answer the phone properly. Whenever I get a message from my phone that a caller is not identified or "unavailable", I press "answer", then "hang up". I don't want to listen to the persistent, irritating ringing.
Startling that these people don't see the self-defeating nature of their approach, which are such that charity makes me uncharitable, or at least, to behave uncharitably.
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| some things and people just make me crazy!!! |
Human beings sure can test our humanity.
ReplyDeleteWhat IS that food you should want, Suz? I mean, I recognize the fried egg, but the rest???
ReplyDeleteI used to get hundreds of solicitations and donate to dozens of charities. Then I was unemployed for a year and a half, before I moved to Asia, and had to stop. Finally I'm off their mailing lists!
Did you learn about Soi Dog when you were in Thailand?
Lisabet, the pic is of a typical Cuban meal: rice, beans, protein, tomato.
DeleteOkay--I'll bite. What's Soi Dog? I know Soi Cowboy in Bangkok pretty well (yum) and have visited a friend living upcountry near Chiang Rai, but have never heard about Soi Dog.
ReplyDeleteSoi Dog is a charity that looks after street dogs in Asia and also works to end the consumption of dog meat (ugh).
Deletehttp://www.soidog.org/en/about-soi-dog/
Ahh! Yes, lots of strays around Bangkok. The little dishes of food left for offerings around the city are usually taken advantage of by stray dogs.
DeleteIf you donate to a select handful of good causes, you don't need to donate to all of them. I wonder if you could ask, point-blank, to be taken off some lists.
ReplyDeleteI do! Every time I talk with one of those bloodsuckers.
DeleteWhat a great picture right at the end! :)
ReplyDeleteYou say:
"I'm especially offended when they browbeat my mom, an elderly Alzheimer's patient, into pledging."
And I think you should be! I don't think the ends justify the means. If a "charitable" cause is engaging in tactics that involve harassing the elderly, then I don't think they're being charitable in the full sense of the word as Sacchi explained it.
Since we all have cell phones, we thought about dropping our landline. But instead, it's on a 2-ring setting, with the answer machine message beginning with, "You have reached..." Husband has been a telecommunications engineer for over 40 years, and he says that saying "hello" is the cue for some of the computers to start their spiel. Most of their computers don't choose to "talk" to our computer. And we finally trained the last hold-out, my mother-in-law, to use each of our direct cell lines. All are on the "Do not call" list, but even so, we still get plagued sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel guilty about being rude to those who are interrupting my life to try to shake me down for money. I know it's a suck job...I've had enough suck jobs to last a lifetime! But if your job is to bother people, you have to expect some of them to lose some of their innate politeness with you.