Should I feel Guilty?

[Saltex]

So I am planning a trip overseas for example, and here I sit driving in my car moaning to myself how expensive this all is etc. and here I am worrying about 10s of thousands of rands, when I am driving past hobos with trollies digging in the garbage bags outside the house, here is this father with his little kid sitting on the corner giving him left over mile from a bottle he had found in the bag, and I just couldn't help but feel guilty for it, here I am stressing about finances for a trip, which is just for pleasure, here they are stressing that the milk bottle they found might be empty, I turned around stopped next to them and gave them R50.

Now the thing is, do I have to feel guilty for this, is it their own fault? And I am taking everyone into consideration, even that person that earns R4k a month for example, should I feel guilty for having more than them, but then I also say to myself I could be that person earning R4k a month, or pushing a trolly around, but I chose not to, I chose to work hard, give up parties and the social life so I could concentrate on my career, so I guess it's just all about choice? Those people are happy with their R4k a month or pushing trollies? Because maybe life is just easier that way and stress free, where as I am constantly under pressure and stressing. Then people also complain that there aren't any opportunities that's why they do what they do, but I believe it's all about determination, if you going to be lazy and make excuses you won't succeed.

So in a sense I guess I shouldn't but I still do at the same time.

 

[OGroteKoning]

Are you responsible?
Yes - Feel guilty, cancel trip, dump funds into trolley
No - Help where you can and enjoy the trip!

 

[za1]

No, the opposite.
The X amount you plan to spend going overseas is going to help so many people keep their jobs, just work it out, from the airlines, to the hotels, restaurants, shops, musuems etc etc, by going on your trip you are helping other people from not becoming homeless.

Actually, it now becomes selfish of you not to go!

Enjoy, where you going? My last trip was NYC, can't wait to get back.

 

[cerebus]

You aren't responsible for their plight, and you only need to feel emburdened to help them to the extent that you personally need to. What's yours is yours, earned honestly and through labour.

What you shouldn't do is get into this mindset that they just didn't make the right choices whereas you sacrificed and suffered to be well off. You were probably - just a guess - given enormous starting advantages that they never had; raised in a certain mindset and provided the educational opportunities that enabled you to be where you are now.

 

[Ninja'd]

You shouldn't feel guilty at all. Hell I look at those people to remind me how good I've got it.

 

[Saltex]

No, the opposite.
The X amount you plan to spend going overseas is going to help so many people keep their jobs, just work it out, from the airlines, to the hotels, restaurants, shops, musuems etc etc, by going on your trip you are helping other people from not becoming homeless.

Actually, it now becomes selfish of you not to go!

Enjoy, where you going? My last trip was NYC, can't wait to get back.

Im gonna be working in germany for 3 weeks, but anyways the point wasn't really the overseas thing, it's just everything in general, buying petrol etc.

 

[SoulTax]

I don't feel guilty at all. Sure I feel sad that some people have it rougher than me. But then millions have it so much better than me. Everyone has their own life and circumstances to deal with. If you have the opportunity to go on a holiday, alone or with family. Do it. Enjoy your own life, because there are others enjoying theirs much more than you will ever enjoy yours.
Have fun, enrich your life with fun memories for your family and let everyone else worry about their own lives and families.

 

[Hemps]

I also feel bad sometimes if I see mostly kids roaming the street and fiddling in dust bins.
We always get people in our trash on trash day looking for empty plastic bottles, there's this one lady with a dog that seems to frequent our complexes trash.
I gave her some food once didn't receive a thank you or anything but let it slide.

Something that had always annoyed me is when you get people begging who are race selective on whom they ask for money.
I'll pullup in my pantok car, next to me will be a wabenzie and beggers will come up to me, some even walking past the oke in the wabenzie.
This happens far too often, I once asked the guy why don't you ask that guy for money....just get a blank stare back.

 

[Saltex]

I tend to do alot of things, for good karma, I try to keep good thoughts, a good attitude for karma sake, wouldn't say exactly a strong believer in karma, but more like positive thoughts etc.

 

[Saltex]

I also feel bad sometimes if I see mostly kids roaming the street and fiddling in dust bins.
We always get people in our trash on trash day looking for empty plastic bottles, there's this one lady with a dog that seems to frequent our complexes trash.
I gave her some food once didn't receive a thank you or anything but let it slide.

Something that had always annoyed me is when you get people begging who are race selective on whom they ask for money.
I'll pullup in my pantok car, next to me will be a wabenzie and beggers will come up to me, some even walking past the oke in the wabenzie.
This happens far too often, I once asked the guy why don't you ask that guy for money....just get a blank stare back.

This, nothing can upset you more where when there is no signs of appreciation

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Times are hard enough to worry about others.

Just this morning as I was walking toward the gate to exit my yard I popped what I thought was my last blood pressure tabled. I then threw the "empty" packet away into our big garbage bin. I'm saying "empty" because as soon as I closed the lid I realised I have calculated it to last until tomorrow, so there should have still been one left

So I bent over looking into the damn bin forgetting that I had a R5 (2 x R2 and a R1 coin) in my shirt pocket and, you've guessed it, all fell into the bin.

I tipped that motherfscker over and scratched until I got every single one of those coins! The worst part is this was at 0630 this morning so it was still dark. I had to use my phone's LED to help me out

On garbage day it woulda been the hobos'.

Fsck them hobos, some of them brought it on themselves

 

[azbob]

I tend to do alot of things, for good karma, I try to keep good thoughts, a good attitude for karma sake, wouldn't say exactly a strong believer in karma, but more like positive thoughts etc.

So you're not doing good for the sake of doing good, you're doing good so that it comes back to you. How selfish.

 

[Hemps]

This, nothing can upset you more where when there is no signs of appreciation

I can let it slide because of the language and education skills that said person might have.

 

[ShaunSA]

So you're not doing good for the sake of doing good, you're doing good so that it comes back to you. How selfish.

I lol'd

 

[PsyWulf]

Don't feel guilty,but do appreciate what you've been given and what you've earned. Help where you can and try not to complain about nonsense

 

[Saltex]

So you're not doing good for the sake of doing good, you're doing good so that it comes back to you. How selfish.

Wahaha you made me lol

 

[Slootvreter]

No

 

[F1 Fan]

You aren't responsible for their plight, and you only need to feel emburdened to help them to the extent that you personally need to. What's yours is yours, earned honestly and through labour.

What you shouldn't do is get into this mindset that they just didn't make the right choices whereas you sacrificed and suffered to be well off. You were probably - just a guess - given enormous starting advantages that they never had; raised in a certain mindset and provided the educational opportunities that enabled you to be where you are now.

Totally agree with this. Certain people have better adavantages than others and are therefore given the platform to proceed. However, I currently work with a guy that grew up in a shack, finished matric and couldn't afford to study so he started working at my the company I am at. 7 years later, the guy earns 410k per annum. My point, people who work hard benefit from it, so you have absolutely no reason to feel bad whatsoever. Help out when you can, give to charity, but live your life

 

[rubytox]

Times are hard enough to worry about others.

Just this morning as I was walking toward the gate to exit my yard I popped what I thought was my last blood pressure tabled. I then threw the "empty" packet away into our big garbage bin. I'm saying "empty" because as soon as I closed the lid I realised I have calculated it to last until tomorrow, so there should have still been one left

So I bent over looking into the damn bin forgetting that I had a R5 (2 x R2 and a R1 coin) in my shirt pocket and, you've guessed it, all fell into the bin.

I tipped that motherfscker over and scratched until I got every single one of those coins! The worst part is this was at 0630 this morning so it was still dark. I had to use my phone's LED to help me out

On garbage day it woulda been the hobos'.

Fsck them hobos, some of them brought it on themselves

This gave me a good laugh.
I HATE garbage day because the Bergies descend on the neighbourhood bins like swarms of flies. Even when we put the freebies in CLEAN bags next to the bin, they go through everything and do not care about plastic bags or other rubbish falling next to the bin. I have to clean-up the pavement each and every time.

To OP: NO, you should not feel guilty. Life is not fair. Some have more opportunities than others. Should you say no to an opportunity because you cannot take the local hobos with you? NO Bloody hell. Charity starts at home.

 

[zolly]

I dunno. There's some people who are simply stuck in poverty because of circumstance, and I am quite happy to help them out. If you put yourself in the gutter coz of drugs or alcohol then I will probably say no.

But I feel guilty everytime I walk out of Nandos holding food and a homeless guy comes begging and all I can afford to give him is R10 or R20. I already help a lot of the guys who are in my area already, and I still feel **** when someone worse off than me comes and asks me for anything to help them out. And I don't own a car, rent a room from family, and have a salary that works out to roughly a 10K package.

The thing that really bugs me is that there is more than enough to go around, it's just that a small group of people want to hold onto it. People live far beyond what they really need, and it bugs me that some people CAN afford to give, but they don't. Even my brother, who supports a couple of charities, has pointed out that relative to the amount I earn, I give a fairly large percentage of it away.