Lighten Up Scrooge

Sometimes I feel really bad when I consider the amount of money I have donated to charities or other worthy causes during my 24 years of life. I mean I have only had a full-time job for a little over two years and I currently make right at $14,500 but that does not excuse the fact that I have given almost nothing to anybody. Honestly, it makes me feel like a bad person. Well, like any bad person I can also rationalize my giving and for a few short moments I will attempt to make myself feel better and maybe some of you.

I was looking at my paycheck just yesterday and I was noticing the FICA deduction along with 250 other deductions and I realized something for the first time in my life. I am, in fact, a charitable person. I have held different jobs since I was 17 years old and we all know one of the best things about a job is the taxes we get to pay. I truly believe that we get more back (in services) from our government than what we pay into the system. I mean I really believe that. You cannot put a price on what the men and women of our armed forces do every day. For the most part, we have efficient roads and emergency response teams just to name a few of the services. That being said, we also work hard to pay for benefits that we may never use. Medicaid, food stamps, and jobless benefits would be just a few examples. I am not making an argument against giving but rather I am just attempting to help the other Scrooges of the world realize that you might not be that bad of a person after all.