You know, speaking strictly about economics, giving money to charity or something like that doesn't make any sense at all. Exchanging income for nothing at all is absolutely absurd.

But we all know that charity is about helping others. There's one place here in town, the Povarello House, that refers to their charitable efforts as a "spiritual pursuit, but not necessarily a practical one". We throw our spare change in jars here and there to support research for breast cancer or muscular dystrophy or, in light of Hurricane Katrina, to help our fellow Americans in the South rebuild some kind of normalcy in the storm's aftermath. Things like that. It may not be much from you and I, but it all adds up and it all goes somewhere to serve good causes.

And philanthropy... If I ever become a millionaire, I'll give back some to the community. I don't yet know how, but I will. I was watching Ray on TV the other night, and the ending epilogue mentioned that he gave back over $20 million to African-American universities and schools for the blind and deaf. A lot of celebrities do a lot of the same things, notably Angelina Jolie and Bono (in their own little ways).

Whether we always show it or not, every one of us has got to care on some level about our fellow human beings. There are those, unfortunately, who seem to adopt a holier-than-thou stance against people like me who give to charity only when it hits close to home, but the important thing is that we're all giving, isn't it? It's one thing to give in just a Katrina-type scenario, but it's a completely different thing to ignore everyone suffering completely.

I know most of us here... actually, all of us here, are relatively young and might not have the time or money to give away so freely to charity or whatnot, but like I said. The important thing is that you do.