To Give or To Spend

By Karen Topakian

Last week, as I walked past a DSW (Discount Shoe Warehouse) store, I toyed with the idea of going in. I didn’t need another pair of shoes. But they were having a sale. As I stood on the crowded sidewalk feeling the magnetic pull of the words, “Everything 30% off,” I spied a worn out looking man holding a battered paper cup. One that literally couldn’t hold water. He stood there quietly asking for change. Not thousands, not hundreds, but spare change.

Most people walked past him without seeing him. Others simply bumped into him with their shopping bags and kept going. No one stopped. The sight of this poor man trying to raise enough money to buy a meal or pay for a temporary roof over his head made me instantly forget the shoe sale. And made me ask the question. I might have bought a $30, $40, $50 pair of shoes I didn’t need, but would I consider giving this man the same amount for something he truly does need?

I didn’t have a good answer.

Many of us know the high we can feel from shopping, buying, consuming. Scientists have even mapped the part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, a part of the ventral striatum that is stimulated when we shop. Why don’t we get that same high when we give money? Or do we?

A scientist at the University of Oregon conducted a study on the brain effects of donating money to a cause. The researcher noted that pleasure areas of the brain, that same ventral striatum, that are traditionally stimulated by food, sex, sweets, shelter and social connection were significantly activated when people gave money to an organization of their choice.

So why don’t we give more than we spend since we are stimulating the same part of the brain?

Is it because we won’t have that new pair of shoes to show off and enjoy? Or is it because the good feeling we receive from giving might not last as long as the black boots or the strappy sandals?

Giving money can educate, inspire, protect, treat, help, change the lives of others and the planet. Shopping is mostly about feeling better or thinking we look better. But retail therapy is temporary.

We need to adjust our minds to enjoy giving as much as we do spending. Imagine if malls weren’t filled with stores hawking the new “must have” shoe, cell phone, electronic gadgets, etc. but with organizations hawking the value of their services and programs. Would we go in and spend money?

Since where we spend our money illustrates our values, I challenge us all to think before we shop and then donate somewhere instead.