More conversations between the Denim Monk and his long lost sister

"Sometimes I feel bad that I don't give to charity."
"Well you don't exactly make a lot of money."
"Yeah, but I make enough to get by. Instead of buying beer, going out to dinner another night, or putting a little extra in my savings account I could donate it to a good cause."
"Like the Red Cross? Green Peace? Who would you give your hard earned money?"
"I don't know. I don't really give it much thought."
"Why bother if you can't do anything in the first place?"
"And what could the twenty dollars I'd give someone from Save the Children harassing people on the street do anyway? Basically I just paid for two and a half hours of their time wasted on the sidewalk."
"Depending on how you think about it, you already give to charity. You see the old Chinese people collecting bottles and cans on trash days, right?"
"Yeah."
"Every six-pack you leave out on the street is a thirty cent donation to them."
"That kind of feels like cheating."
"Well yes. It's lazy philanthropy, but philanthropy none the less. You already paid that bottle deposit, and if you don't return them yourself it either goes to the state, or someone else willing to return them for you."
"It just sounds so lame."
"It is, but at least realize that you're doing something to help. It may not be much, but you're giving that money directly to someone rather than contributing to a big philanthropic bureaucracy."
"I guess that's a good point, but what if they're just kicking back most of their measly profits to someone who smuggled them over here thirty years ago and they're still paying back. Isn't that basically slavery?"
"Well if that's the case, at least the small sum you're contributing is one step toward freedom, or at least keeping that evil overlord at bay."
"Is there anything I can do that's just one-hundred percent good?"
"Probably not."