如何避免奉献的遗憾

 　　I want to share my story to help you avoid the kind of regret I experienced as a deep churning in my stomach when I found out what bad decisions I made by giving to my favorite charity for many years.

　　我想要分享我的故事，以帮助你们避免我经历的遗憾，当我发现对于这么多年捐助我最爱的慈善机构，我做了多么坏的决定时，这种遗憾会在我的胃里大力翻腾。

　　Make-A-Wish Foundation helps kids with terminal diseases achieve a grand wish. For example, it could take the child and her family to Disneyland. It then shares the stories of these kids through their marketing¹ materials. These stories are truly heartwarming. I fell for it, and donated every Giving Season, as I wanted to help kids have good lives.

　　许愿基金会帮助完成那些身患绝症的孩子们一个大愿望。例如，它会带孩子和她的家人去迪斯尼乐园。然后它会通过宣传材料来分享这些孩子的故事。这些故事真的非常感人。我相信它，每次奉献季节时都会捐赠，因为我想要帮助那些孩子过上好生活。

　　However, my close friend Max Harms pointed² out that Make-A-Wish Foundation makes 300 million per year telling these stories. Our brain is wired to have positive emotions from such stories, and therefore people like me donate.

　　然而，我的密友马克思·哈姆斯指出每年要花3亿美元来讲述这些故事。我们的大脑喜欢从这样的故事中获得积极的情感，因此像我这样的人们会捐助。

　　By comparison, Max told me to consider the Against Malaria³ Foundation. It buys malaria nets that protect children in developing countries from mosquitoes carrying this deadly disease. Would not my goal of helping⁴ kids have good lives be achieved better by protecting them from death?

　　通过比较，马克告诉我应该考虑抵抗疟疾基金会。它购买蚊帐，能保护发展中国家的孩子们远离携带这种致命疾病的蚊子。难道我帮助孩子过上更好生活的目的不应该通过保护他们远离死亡来实现吗？

　　That question stopped me in my tracks. I had to think hard about why I gave to Make-A-Wish. I realized it was because they had heartwarming stories and great marketing that brought the stories to my attention. Our brains focus on things that come to our attention and not necessarily on things that are actually important for our goals, a thinking error called attentional bias⁵.

　　这个问题让我停了下来。我不得不努力思考我为什么要捐助许愿基金会。我意识到这是因为他们有着感人的故事和让这些故事引起我的关注的很棒的营销手段。我们的大脑会关注那些引起我们注意的事情，而不一定会关注那些对我们目标真正重要的事情，这是一种叫做注意偏差的思维错误。

　　What I failed to consider was the stories of children saved from malaria. I imagined a specific child, Mary, who did not get malaria because of my donation. I envisioned how Mary’s mother rocked Mary to sleep. I imagined Mary’s fifth birthday party, with her family all around. I imagined Mary’s first day of school. I imagined her first kiss. I imagined Mary growing up, becoming an adult, getting married, and having her own kids. My last mental image was of Mary knitting in a rocking chair, enjoying her grandchildren’s laughter.

　　我没有考虑那些从疟疾中获救的孩子们的故事。我想象着一个特定的孩子，马瑞，他因为我的捐助而没有患疟疾。我想象着马瑞的母亲摇着马瑞入睡。我想象着马瑞和他一家人在一起过的5岁生日派对。我想象着马瑞入学的第一天。我想象着她的第一个吻。我想象着马瑞的成长，长成大人、结婚在后有了自己的孩子。我最后的精神形象是玛丽在一个安乐椅上编织衣物，享受着她的孙子们的笑声。

　　It was wonderful to imagine Mary’s life. By comparison to giving one positive story through Make-A-Wish, I could give Mary a lifetime of heartwarming stories. Besides, a bed net costs a few dollars, while a trip to Disneyland costs many thousands. For the same money, I can save not only Mary, but John, Ella, Sergio, Paula, Sarnur, Christian⁶, and so many others. It was no contest.

　　想象马瑞的生活，这种感觉很奇妙。通过与通过许愿基金会去捐助一个积极的故事相比较，我可以给予马瑞一生的暖心故事。另外，一个蚊帐只需几美元，而去迪斯尼一趟却要花费几千美元。对于同样数额的钱，我可以救的不仅是马瑞，还能救约翰、艾拉、塞格尔、宝拉、萨那、克里斯汀以及更多其他的孩子。这毫无疑问。

　　Now I have nothing against Make-A-Wish Foundation. They do what they promised to do. It was a failure of my imagination that caused me to make bad decisions. From this experience, I learned that charities that are most effective in achieving my actual goals for donations are often not the ones with the best stories, and thus do not get funded.

　　现在我也不反对许愿基金会。他们做着他们承诺做的事情。这是由于我的想象失败造成了我做错了错误决定。从这次教训中，我学到了实现我真正的捐助目标的最有效的慈善基金会经常不会是那些有着最好的故事的那些，因此它们得不到资金捐助。

　　Max then told me about Effective Altruism⁷, a movement specifically set up to deal with such thinking errors. It uses data-driven strategies to promote charities that do the most good for the world. He advised me to check out GiveWell in particular, which provides research reports on the most effective charities. He also suggested The Life You Can Save, whose charity impact calculator enables you to put in your donation amount and learn immediately about the impact it makes.

　　之后马克思向我讲述了有效利他主义组织，这是一个专门设计处理这样的思维错误的运动。它利用数据导向策略来促进慈善会做最有利于这个世界的事情。他建议我特别关注一下捐助好机构，它提供了最有效慈善的研究报告。他还建议了你可以拯救的生命这个机构，它的慈善影响计算器使您能够输入您的捐款金额，并立即了解它能产生的影响。

　　I was sold! I never wanted to experience that deep churning in my stomach. So the next time you hear a great story from a charity that moves you, stop to consider the alternatives. Where else can you give your money to achieve the same ends with more impact per dollar?

　　我被出卖了！我绝不想经历这样胃里翻腾的经历。所以当下次你从一个慈善会听到一个感动你的故事时，停下来去考虑可替换的方案。你还能捐钱给哪里，以让你的每一分钱更有价值？

　　I hope sharing publicly about my bad decisions helps you avoid giving regret and be truly effective in your altruism.

　　我希望能通过公开分享我的错误决定，来帮助你们避免捐助的遗憾，真正做到帮助别人。

 

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 altruism   

n.利他主义，不自私

参考例句：

• An important feature of moral behaviour is altruism.道德行为一个重要特点就是利他主义。
• Altruism is crucial for social cohesion.利他主义对社会的凝聚是至关重要的。