"What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." -- Herbert Alexander Simon

What an eloquent way to explain why I don't watch the news or read the paper very often. No wonder he won a Nobel prize. It's the same with charity organizations. Everyone wants a piece of you, and most of those people truly need that piece. But you can only give so much -- so where do you choose to give it? And what do you do when those who don't receive it get upset? Well, they shouldn't get upset.

I donate to a few different organizations of my choice, when I can. When someone calls from an organization to which I did not choose to donate, I say, "My funds have been allocated elsewhere." I actually got in a tiff with one guy who kept pushing and pushing, "Anything will help," and so on, trying guilt tactics and forcing responsibility, etc. Finally I said, "Goodbye and good luck."

With a thousand beggar children at your feet and only one quarter in your hand, how do you choose? It's something I think about on occasion. I am finally arriving at the point where I do not feel guilty about all those organizations who don't see my money or time. It's simply not realistic or practical. Even Mother Teresa could only be in one village at a time.

Changing the subject, it rained so hard last night! Several times I awoke to the sound, and each time I was reluctant to fall back to sleep, I just wanted to lay comfortably in the warm bed and listen to the wind howl, the drum roll of drops against the windows (two walls in our bedroom are made of mostly glass, floor-to-ceiling windows, so there's a lot of real estate for the water to pelt).

I can't believe it's already Friday again. I'm dressed and ready to go work up a sweat. I see a few patches of clear sky out my office window. I hope it rains again soon, so that while I'm on the elyptical machine, I can watch the rain slapping the window to my right.

To my book club, email reminder coming soon! I look forward to seeing you and discussing the latest with you tomorrow!

-Barbarella

previous | next