Savior complex

[papi]

I can empathize with it. There is a certain feeling of joy that comes with helping those from less fortunate circumstances. But think back to your high school/college sweetheart - it probably had nothing to do with money. Maybe a cool car, dinner or a movie but that was probably about it. Things are often different under the MOB scenario and this is the part I find most troubling. What is your take?

[soltero]

I can empathize with it. There is a certain feeling of joy that comes with helping those from less fortunate circumstances. But think back to your high school/college sweetheart - it probably had nothing to do with money. Maybe a cool car, dinner or a movie but that was probably about it. Things are often different under the MOB scenario and this is the part I find most troubling. What is your take?

The Late Great Pete E used to often quote that "gratitude is the least enduring of human emotions".

Take from those words of wisdom what you will...

[doombug]

I can empathize with it. There is a certain feeling of joy that comes with helping those from less fortunate circumstances.  But think back to your high school/college sweetheart - it probably had nothing to do with money. Maybe a cool car, dinner or a movie but that was probably about it. Things are often different under the MOB scenario and this is the part I find most troubling. What is your take?

Being a "saviorite" (doing the charitable thing) is not as selfless as you might think.

"[T]he closer you look at charitable giving, the less charitable it appears to be. A recent experiment by John List, an economist at the University of Chicago, and a team of colleagues, showed that donations are less than magnanimous after all. Using controlled trials to compare different methods of door-to-door fund-raising, professor List's team discovered that it was much more effective to raise funds by selling lottery tickets than it was to raise funds by asking for money. This hardly suggests a world populated by altruists seeking to do the maximum good with their charitable cash.

"More effective still was simply to make sure that the fund-raisers were attractive white girls rather than a dowdier assortment of males and females representing all shapes, races, and sizes. This dramatically increased the average contribution, because many more men decided to give money. Altruism?"

20/20 did an hour on this subject a few months ago and came to a similar conclusion.

"People who give money show brain activity that's associated with feel-good chemicals like dopamine — the same brain activity that happens when you receive money."

A gringo should never be donating money to young Latinas.

Unless, of course, she's legitimately confined to one of those (Billy-Ray) Valentinemobiles.