Save a Mexican Mutt

Today, when I got home, I had a form letter waiting for me from Jim Karger, an acquaintance of mine from years ago, asking me to contribute to a cause close to his and his wife's hearts, a rescue organization for dogs in Mexico. They founded Save a Mexican Mutt and have done a lot with the organization as they've helped find homes for more than 200 pets.

My wife is not nearly as prone to make donations to any organizations as I am. I don't know why. She was taken aback when I insisted on making a very large (for us) donation to Katrina relief and equally astonished when I insisted on a donation of similar size to tsunami relief. When I give $25 here to a charity for which an acquaintance is seeking contributions, she winces. When I do it again for another charity, for another acquaintance, she winces again. And when I do it four or five or six times to other organizations that do good work, she wishes I'd let someone else make a contribution from time to time. Well, I'm going to give her another reason to wonder about my sanity. I'm going to contribute to Save a Mexican Mutt.

I really appreciate people who actually get off their butts and do something to change the world. I'm too often not one of those people, but I really do appreciate those who do. Every time I decide to make a contribution to some cause or another, I want to devote my life to one or more of those causes; I want to quit the rat-race and focus on something that matters. At the very least, I want to make at least a modest difference with my money, if not with my time and energy.

I've come to the conclusion that, if I were to stumble into a financial windfall that would let me retire tomorrow, I'd change my life. I'd devote quite a bit of the windfall to causes I believe in. I'd not retire, though, I'd be certain to spend my time and energy supporting those causes.

So that's what retirement is for....I've wondered.