MY FIRST IMPORTANT POST AND PLEA FOR HELP--NO JOKING AROUND

First things first, a note to my friends and followers outside the U.S. This very long post is only intended for those in America. For logistical and legal reasons, I do not wish to take any actions outside the U.S. at this time.

Well, I have finally taken the next step of my plan to actually do something important to benefit the world, for the first time in my life. My first step was to decide that I was going to forgo seeking a room and live out of my car for at least a month as a way to motivate myself to take the money I'll save and use it for beneficial cause. My second step, yesterday, was to inquire at Planned Parenthood (where I needed to go anyway for regular testing) about how to find a suitable candidate, which I'm defining as a young woman who is going to college but is pregnant and cannot afford an abortion. This might not be the best use of my money, but it's the most rational idea I've conceived at this time. The PP employee listed a few donation options and gave me the number for a call center where I can hopefully be directed to the right person to speak to.

A little background first, though. I regret to say that I have wasted nearly two decades of my life thinking about the world's problems and dreaming up solutions, but not actually acting, except in the area of changing my own behaviour: giving up materialism, trying to conserve where feasible, and trying live according to the principles I espouse (having a vasectomy, promoting transparency by example). It is often said that change starts with onesself, but I never really bought into that. Fact is, I've realized this whole time that I've just been procrastinating.

My first form of procrastination was the pie-in-the-sky idea that I would use my talents as a computer programmer to start my own company, become a billionaire, and use that money to help the world. It did not take long for me to realize I had neither the discipline, the business skill, nor the killer app idea for that, and I came to accept that my best contribution would be my unique philosophical insights.

Still, I could have started putting some money into implementing some of my early ideas, but I rationalized my procrastination by convincing myself that before acting, I needed to complete my philosophy. As you can see, there is not much there. What you see was written one night in 2007 after years (about a decade, really) of thought, but one it got late I went home, and I never got back to it. I've added to this document over the years, but only IN MY HEAD. Every time I've pulled it up and sat down to actually write, I've gotten discouraged by the sheer difficulty of expression what I'm thinking, and then I've let myself get sidetracked by other pursuits.

First there was Starbucking that sucked up increasing amounts of my time. Then there was Scrabble, which also sucked up more and more time. There was always another Starbucks to visit, another tournament to play, another word list to study. Always this excuse or that excuse to keep from pulling up that document.

There was also a genuine reason not to act, which was the financial troubles that plagued me in the early 2000s. I finally started to get my financial house in order in the latter half of the previous decade, but because of the aforementioned Starbucking, Scrabbling, plus my generally unthrifty lifestyle, it took me until this year to reach the point at which I anticipated soon being financially comfortable enough to start giving away money.

The shadow of that unfinished document still hangs over me, and I have concerns that when I start to hear criticism about whatever steps I take to make a difference, I will not have a good defense prepared. Rather than wasting time addressing everybody, I would prefer to give the standard answer--"my actions follow logically from my philosophy"--and forward a link to the document.

I could use the excuse to keep procrastinating indefinitely, but frankly I think the thought of reaching my 40th year (March 2012) without having done anything for the world is very disturbing. Thus, I must act, and the time is now.

Getting back to my plans, I think I will have many challenges to overcome. I anticipate that once I call that Planned Parenthood call center, I might have trouble being directed to the right person. When I finally do speak to somebody, that person will not understand that I am trying to maximize the amount of benefit that I can achieve with my limited funds, which is why I'm targeting a specific category of recipient. I have no interest in my money going to a general fund where it will be used to help some random pregnant female who might just end up getting pregnant next year, or who will simply go on to live a life of concern with her own interests and do nothing for the world.

If I manage to explain myself, I might find that whomever I speak to takes offence at the idea of directed, or perhaps even conditional, aid. Or their might be policies in place that prevent PP from identifying a specific recipient--privacy concerns, for example.

If I have no luck with Planned Parenthood or similar agencies, I can try and find a beneficiary on my own, but I see that path fraught with hazards. Say I post a message on an online ad, like Craigslist--I am sure to be flooded with messages from people intending to scam me. If I do manage to find someone who seems genuine, how do I verify that she is truly pregnant? Do I have to meet her in person? Do I later have to accompany her to the clinic to render payment for the abortion? At minimum, that will have the effect of costing me income which I could be applying to help somebody else. If I try to do this remotely, I run the risk of having my money be used inappropriately.

I've also thought about talking to the local high school, or perhaps a local college. I see obvious difficulties there, starting with privacy concerns. I also anticipate suspicion might be an issue, since what I am trying to do is something I've never heard of in the mainstream media, and it is human nature to be suspicious of what is different. I cannot rule out the possibility that some school administrator might be suspicious enough to contact the authorities, and that raises a whole nother can of worms.

I haven't even mentioned the issue of abortion itself, which will automatically cause some people to oppose me and perhaps even actively try to frustrate my efforts.

Those are just the issues that come to mind now, or that I've been thinking about over the years. I am sure there are just as many issues that are not occurring, and that is what I need help with.

I need constructive criticism. I need solid information about the state of unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. Obviously, I need to know if there are even young women in the category I envision, who have been accepted to college, are not financially secure, and are pregnant. I need to know whether the fact that they got pregnant implies (by correlation) that they are less likely to succeed even if given a chance to end the pregnancy. I need to know what legal risks I may face (will I later be sued by some person I helped, for example). I need to know about possible backlash. I need to know how I can get attention for my efforts so that I can expand them in the future. I need to know a lot of things, and if I were to wait until I had a chance to research every aspect of what I want to do, I'd be back to that whole issue of procrastinating and never actually doing anything.

So please, help if you can, with good, solid, constructive ideas that can actually further my cause. If you don't have any, forward this message to someone you think can help.

Thank you for reading.


Finally, I will be tracking my progress at http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net/BetterWorld.htm if you care to follow. The link is not up yet, but soon will be.