Living An Ethical Life

Despite all the economic difficulties most of us don’t have to go to sleep wondering if we will eat tomorrow or where we will go to get clean water.  Unfortunately for millions of people living in the developing world that is the case.  Whatever our circumstances are by world standards we have all won the lottery of life.  We can hope to see a more prosperous tomorrow

Charitable giving is an American tradition.  Surveys show that 85% of American families make charitable donations each year.   Giving money to charity is part of living an ethical life.   Peter Singer author of “The Life You Can Save” believes that giving to the right charity could end world poverty.   The reason is it takes much less money to help provide clean water, food, agricultural supplies, and basic medical care in the poorest parts of the world.   In his book he cites some examples of how a little bit of money goes a long way.

One story is about a group of women among the lowest caste group in India who pick through the landfills looking for recyclable materials.  Their problem was finding a reliable market.  One of charities promoted through givemore.net gave them enough funds to organize and secure buyers.  Today this group no longer accepts charitable funds.  The good news about supporting the poorest of the poor is the impact is huge.  Workingwomen in India have fewer and healthier children and have the resources to rely on their own best efforts.  This same scenario is repeated in every dirty and forgotten corner of the globe.  When money gets into the right pipeline it changes things.

Teachers can make a sustaining impact on this endeavor by adopting a yearlong charitable cause for their classroom.  Doing this not only teaches your students about culture, geography, and history it also is the beginning for them to be part of a call to positive action.  It empowers your students to make a difference in the world. 

It takes only a little bit of imagination to make this possible.  Students should be encouraged to give.  Create opportunities to give small change.  Students can pay nickels and dimes for extra perks like watching a movie, or having a pizza party.  Throughout the year much can be collected.  Classrooms can aim for a specific dollar amount.  

Teachers can find information from Peter Singer’s book.  The web provides lots of resources like givewell.net. and kiva.org, both allows you to give small amounts of money to lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world. Your students will be able to read first hand accounts of helping a real person make strides towards improving their life.

Help your students learn the value of charitable giving and tap into the possibilities in life.

In the famous words of George Bernard Shaw.

“You see things and you say, why?  But I dream things that never were and I say why not?”