Should I help the poor ... or buy a new motorcycle?

I am hoping to come into some extra money in the next few months and I am trying to decide how best to use it. I could pay down the mortgage. But to be frank, that is just plain boring.

Then my conscience speaks up: "how about helping out the world's poor? Close to a billion people live on less than a dollar a day. That's more than three times the population of the United States living at the absolute bare minimum subsistence level. So why not give the money to World Vision or some other non-governmental organization (NGO)?"

Thanks conscience, but I have a good counter to your rather pious suggestion: ineffectiveness. NGOs have come under increasing fire in recent years for being ineffective. After all, billions and billions have been poured into development in regions like Africa and still the most basic necessities -- clean water, basic medicine -- are not being provided. I don't want to be part of that system.

"So why not go to http://www.charitynavigator.org/ to find out which would be the most effective NGO with your funds?"

Nice try conscience, but there's another problem. Many nationals of developing nations are increasingly dissatisfied with what they see as "famine porn": the use by NGOs of graphic images of suffering (e.g. children with bloated bellies) to raise funds. Ironically, such a steady stream of images may do little more than ensure perpetual dependence on foreign aid, while quashing any possibility of substantial foreign investment and development. Think about it conscience: how is a country ever going to develop a tourist trade if people think starving children rather than sandy beaches?

"Okay, so what do you propose to do with the money?"

Well conscience, I thought it over and I have another option: I could buy a motorcycle for myself, a Honda Magna. Don't look at me like that conscience. What, do you want me to ride my mountain bike around town all summer? While they stopped making the Magna in 2004, I could get an excellent low mileage bike for about five thousand bucks. Hey, I'm not talking Harley Davidson here. And that way I can get to Bible studies a lot quicker, and get almost as good gas mileage as a Prius. Anyway, didn't Jesus always say we'd have the poor? But that Magna I saw on Craigslist could be gone tomorrow...