It’s Saturday, and I have to go make lunch, so I’m going to be busy for a while, but I just remembered something that I thunked last night while watching a commercial that aired during the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica.

It was a commercial for a charity that gave books to kids who “don’t have books at home.”

Here’s what I did thunk about it:

If there's a charity for kids who don't have books at home, and that charity gives books to those kids, and those kids keep those books at home, then isn't the charity putting itself out of business?

What’s more important? The cause or the charity? Are these kids selfishly accepting books at the expense of all the jobs provided by the charitable organization? Because, as I previously stated, these kids are putting the charity out of business by accepting the books. Once homes are stocked with books, we no longer need a charity which stocks homes with books.

Should there be a system of checks and balances to ensure that this fragile ecosystem isn’t disrupted? Should there be another charitable organization that works to remove the books from the homes of these children? Would that provide the balance needed?

And, if this extra organization were to exist, then would it be helping the first charitable organization, or would it be helping the kids? Because, in removing the books from the homes, it would be:

1. Helping the first charitable organization to survive by giving it work to do

2. Helping the children by ensuring that the first charitable organization would always be around to provide books

Finally, if the net result is that we now have two healthy charitable organizations, both providing needed jobs, but leaving the children with roughly as many books as they would have had without the organizations, then is it wise to keep those organizations around?

Or would it be cruel to shut them both down? Cruel because:

1. It would destroy the created jobs

2. It would send a message to the children that they don’t matter

Discuss amongst yourselves. I’m going to go microwave myself a burrito.