I stumbled on Giving What We Can a week ago, and since then I've been thinking about giving much more on a regular basis to charity. Looked up a bunch of charities that strive for things I care about a lot, such as global warming and animal welfare. Found out which ones are well regarded and ended up with a few good ones.

Last weekend though, the gf and I visited my parents for Easter. It had been a while since I'd last seen them, and while we had a wonderful weekend, it was also pretty clear that they're not in a good place. My dad finally got something of a stable job - something he hadn't had since 2008 - but fell really badly and broke his shoulder in the first week. They got a pretty hefty bill from the energy company, which had promised the bill wouldn't be big. And there's a bunch of other stuff they're dealing with - enough that they're losing sleep over it.

So instead of helping charities, I decided to help them out instead. And despite my best efforts, there's this veneer of guilt and empathy and sadness around all of this - I feel bad for not doing more, for not helping more, for choosing what's near over what's far away. For doing more than fine myself. I don't know what's best, don't know if I can know. At least I can try.