Where is it Needed Most?

During the holiday season, there is a sense of joy and happiness that seems to flow around. People often reflect upon their actions in the past year that is coming to an end. With these thoughts, during the holiday season especially, people make an effort to help the less fortunate and give to charity. But how should one decide where to give? There are so many causes out there that it can often be difficult to sift through and find the "most important ones". I was reading an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune whose author thinks that American's donations should be given to the many people in poverty in developing countries  rather than giving to institutions at home in the United States.

The first question that arose when I read this article was, What about the people in the United States who are in poverty? The author, Peter Singer, argues that we should give to people in extreme poverty. "Extreme poverty, as defined by the World Bank, means living on less than $1.25 a day"(Singer). This number is much more common in developing countries than in the United States, because it is a relatively rich country, so therefore less of the population is in this intense situation of need here. Although his reasoning seems to be logical, I feel like Americans who are donating money should first consider problems in their own country rather than those across the Atlantic. The author argues this again by saying that people should give where they would have the most impact; developing countries.

I do agree with Singer that money should be given to more direct causes rather than already wealthy institutions. The example he brings up is one that I think about as well. Singer is a professer at Princeton where a vast majority of the student body was exposed to an excellent education and he does not always see the importance of giving to an institution that is already thriving when he could give his money elsewhere to places that could give as many children possible at least some form of an education. From this example, Singer is saying that he would prefer to donate where the need is greatest. Do you think that there are some causes that are more deserving than others? How would you decide what causes are the most needy?