“Luck is hot and people funny.
Everybody’s fond of money.
Lost a chance and sell your mother.
Win the pot and buy another.
Other people fall and crash:
You could win the pot of cash!”

Cordwainer Smith (Norstrilia)

Candidates are on the Net/With fancy cardboard signs/Help us win! Our goal’s not met!/Please be our Valentines!

I have given till it hurts!/It’s not enough, they say./Sell your houses! Live in yurts!/THEY win, you’ll REALLY pay!

Save the puppies! Save your souls!/Help Joe get his new kidney!/Help Steffy’s face be free of moles?/Fate dealt her trash cards, didn’ he?

I am broke. Fudge it! Alas!/Jumpstart may deliver/Needed funds to save my ass,/I, the Compulsive Giver.

***

Afterword: The asks for money for this and that has grown to epic, epidemic proportions on the Internet. And if you give, you poor sap, they have evidence that you are a soft touch, and they ask you for more and more.

My poor Uncle Jim died near-broke in 1993. On the side of his bed he didn’t sleep on there were huge stacks of correspondence with charitable organizations, some legit, some predatory. My advice to generous souls: Make a budget for charitable contributions AND KEEP IT. (PS: I try, but I can’t, but not by much.)