Inconsequential, Am I?

I just joined my first job and got my first salary. While I managed to splurge most of it away, there was still some left and it had a destined purpose. This portion of my salary was supposed to go towards some good work, as in donating to charity etc. In our company, which boasts of being highly CSRish, there are various programmes through which you can fulfil this need but just when I was figuring out the tax benefits this noble deed of mine would bring about, I thought.

Everything seemed so absurd. Here I was being this godly character, trying to help someone when the truth was, I was not sure my actions would have any effect at all. I mean they would, but I was sure that they would not affect even an iota of what was around me. Is this what real charity is? Cribbing about the smelly and dirty drains around, ridiculing the foreign policy of our country or mourning about the environmental degradation but doing something that changes none of that but something else all-together. I risk sounding eccentric but isn't it hypocrisy if we think that by giving some money we'll tidy up affairs for someone but, truly, we know of no way to improve our surroundings?

I think that there are very good ways of spending the money that you wish to otherwise donate. How about planting a tree every month on the roadside of the lane you walk by everyday? I am sure by the time one switches the job, the person would leave behind an indelible mark on her surroundings. By donating, aren't we just trying to outsource our good deeds because we just don't have the time or the drive for it? Aren't we admitting that we are inconsequential to ourselves but probably someone else will disagree?