On charity.

To be honest, I don't have an opinion on this topic. I'm a hippie, a liberal, a bleeding-heart INFP, and I think we should help everyone all the time with everything. The enormous unfairness of seeing people who have more than they could possibly need side-by-side with people who have nothing is so overwhelming that I try to avoid thinking about it whenever possible to keep from falling into despair and ceasing to be a functioning human being.

The types of charity I tend to support most focus on education, knowledge, and reading, including easy access to books in impoverished areas. As I've said before, I think achieving the greatest possible understanding and knowledge of the world is a worthwhile goal for anyone to pursue, and I want to help make that option available to as many people as possible.

That said, I know that many people don't value intelligence and information as much as I do, and I don't begrudge anyone for supporting something different. Any charity work is worthwhile, as long as you're making informed decisions on the best organizations to assist (if, for example, you choose the organization whose name you know best, it's likely that they aren't a very effective charity because they're spending their money on advertising--basically, do your research before you donate or volunteer).

So yes, if it were up to me, I'd donate the money to the HPA's Accio Books campaign or our local library. But luckily it's up to someone more informed, capable and decisive than me to choose between Africa and the Huntington food pantry, both of which are immensely worthwhile causes.