*sigh* There Goes My Faith In The Human Race Again or 'Why I Never Donate. Ever'

It's amazing how the people of this country can unite during times of great disaster. Of course 9/11 was a big one and that ended up being ruined by United Way because they 'had enough money donated from the 9/11 telethon' and they decide in their infinite wisdom to give some of that money to 'performing arts'. Anyway...

Now with Hurricane Katrina the $2000 debit cards being handed out by the Red Cross and FEMA are being used at Victoria's Secret and strip bars. How much of a scumbag do you have to be to rip off needy people? And if you are a legitament recipient of one of these cards, what the fuck are you thinking? Do you think you're going to spend it and then hold your hand out for another one? Oh yeah... that's how it will probably work. Some whiny Democrat will start maoning about how Bush is doing such a shitty job... well that's happened already. Anyway my gripe is Liberals like to throw money at a problem hoping it will go away. If it doesn't, raise taxes and throw some more at it.

I learned a very important lesson when I was a young man. My father took me to a Yankee's game and while we were on the outskirts of the ball park among a throng of people, dirty water dog vendors and the usual group of people selling their wares a young latino aproached my father. He was probably about 11 or 12 with these big puppy dog eyes and asked in a pleading voice 'Please sir, I am very hungry and I haven't eaten. May I please have some money for food'. Sometimes as kids you really can't appreciate what adults are about. That day I found out my father was no sucker. He looked at the kid and pointed to the hot dog vendor and said 'Let's go, I'll buy you a hotdog'. The look on this this little shit's face was classic, he looked stupified, stuttered for a second and half mumbled '...uh... no thanks' and walked away. Walked away to some couple who, you guessed, gave him money. Right around the time this kid was mumbling his reply to my father the light bulb went off in my head. This little fucker is full of shit! As I watched him walk away I started to get really pissed off and I wanted to go over there and kick his ass! My father calmed me down and I wondered how anyone can be such a conniving little douche bag (I thought that, I said something a little less vulgar). He just sighed, shrugged his shoulders and said 'There will always be people like him'. My father sensed something fishy and he reacted in the right way. If the kid was really hungry he would have taken the hot dog and I'm sure my father would have given him some cash after. I guess he was a sucker for certain kids, how do you think I ended up getting away with what I did? Rest easy Pops.

What I do to donate is volunteer my time. I'll do phone work or computer work for people for free or whatever else they need help with. Of course I've been burned too many times to give away my stuff or cash. Here's some of my favorites;

One time I was strapped for cash and a friend offered to buy my shotgun off of me for $100. He said it will be there waiting for me when I had the money. Well when I had the money a short time later I found out he sold it to someone else for $200. That pissed me off. Done.

Another time I was doing hours and hours of free computer work for this guys nit picky commie wife. Nothing I did to her computer was ever good enough or some minor little silly detail wasn't just right. He would tell me that I had to come over his house that night and work on his wife's computer until it was right. My response was 'no' and I am never going to work on your computer again'. And I haven't. Done.

Friends of mine went on vacation for two weeks and asked me to house sit for them so they didn't have to pay to put their dog and two cats in a kennel. They lived about 25 miles from where I lived and it added another 50 miles to my daily ride to and from work. I also had to leave work immediately so I could get back and let the poor dog out to go to the bathroom. I did this for two weeks so I brought my Mac, satellite radio and some laundry over. They came home while I was at work (and never called to tell me they were home), and when I got there my stuff was unplugged and in a pile on the dining room table. OK whatever. I wanted to spend some time with his kids but his wife said 'you can't stay'. Basically it was 'we have no more need of you get the fuck out'. Very rarely in my life do I genuinely get mad enough to do another person violence but I had to leave or I would have. Done, pay the money for a fucking kennel.

Another favorite was helping another friend put in a walk way. I spent a week of my vacation time digging, pulling up roots, and lugging bricks and bags of sand and stone around. I've wired his home network for him as well as 'given' him a 5 port switch that he never paid me for. I tried to get him to paint some little metal miniatures for me (and he's really good at it because he does it all the time) and I would buy them from his store. He refused to do it and I heard him saying (to someone else) how I'm lazy because I didn't want to paint them. He recently moved his computer to the other side of the room and it's expected that I rewire it. Sorry, I'm too lazy. Done, no more freebies.

And that is why I don't donate anymore.