Social Investing & a joke
Aight. Big conversations.
I want to address the issue regarding the efficiency of trips to developing nations. I tend to be radically against these. I hate church mission trips to Mexico and feel the same way about habitat trips. These seem like a huge waste of money, time and effort. I know kids who have gone on two-week, thousand dollar trips where they spend a week helping build a house and a week on vacation. Why? Because it would look good for college. Sad. So very sad.
I've heard that the theory is that they will be changed by their experience regardless of their original intentions. *sigh. Is that the best we can do? Spend tons of money and then cross our fingers and hope it changes them in the long run?
No. We can do better. Amy Smith does it right. Her kids are already passionate and then they are thrust into a situation that's truly different. They really see. They try to help. They create deep bonds. They identify; they empathize. And the proof is in the numbers. She said that most of her students end up running with it.
Fantastic investment.
This joke really struck my fancy so I thought I'd share:
God created Adam and everything was great. After a while Adam started to grow bored until one day he goes to talk to God:
- Hey man, I'm getting kinda bored...
- Let me think about it...
The next day God walks excitedly up to Adam:
- Dude. Dude! I figured it out.
- Oh yeah?
- Yup. I can hook you up with the perfect companion. She's hot, she's smart, she'll cater to your every whim; dude, she's perfect.
- Nice. What'll it cost me?
- It'll take an arm and a leg.
- Well shit.
...
What can I get for a rib?
1 comment:
Trips like those rarely cost as much as the participants pay, so it ends up being a labor/tourism fundraiser for the program - or at least it should be. You could argue that it would be more effective and less wasteful of resources to just ask for money, but there is a large group of people who would prefer to pay to work on it, and feel good that they got a chance to contribute and be involved in it - which makes the pricetag easy to stomach for people who might not otherwise donate as much. It also gets people to see what life is like in another part of the world, which is pretty valuable by itself.
I'm not saying that I think they're a *great* idea, but there are more benefits than for just the "volunteer," and if it brings in more money than it costs, I don't really see a reason to not have them.
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