Not enough...

A compilation of several conversations I've recently been a part of:

Friend or acquaintance: They take so much money out of my paycheck, I can barely make ends meet! I don't know how I'm supposed to pay for the bass boat (or the pontoon boat, or the sea-doos, or the motorcycles, or the fancy his-n-her sports cars, oceanside condo, cabin in the mountains - and so on).

Me: Yeah, they take a chunk out, don't they?

Friend: Oh yeah, and half of it goes to those @*%%^#* foreign countries! We're sending too much of our money over there!

Me: Well, actually, I don't think we're sending enough money over there...

Friend: WHAT the *@%* are you talkin' about...

At this point I recite a long list of mind-numbing statistics about just how many people are dying in the world every day from starvation, malnutrition or some related syndrome and how just one percent on the U.S. national budget could go a long way toward alleviating this heart breaking situation.

Friend: Yeah, well, that's not our problem, is it? There's plenty of people over here that need help. @$#%, there's people in my back yard that are hungry. We ought to help them first! We've got to take care of our own!

Me: Well, are you?

Friend: Are I what???

Me: Are you feeding the hungry people in your own neighborhood?

Friend: There aren't any hungry people in my neighborhood. I live in [name of fancy subdivision or upscale development].

Me: But you just said that there are hungry people in your backyard...

Friend: That's not what I meant and you know it!

Me: Then what did you mean?

Friend: Just that there are a lot of people in our country that need help...

Me: And how are you helping them exactly?

Friend: Looks at feet and mumbles something about paying too many taxes...

So, to my friends, I ask again, "How exactly are you helping?"

And I have to ask the same of myself, "How am I helping?"

Whether it's us or them, here or there...

The only possible answer is, "NOT ENOUGH!"