Back in March, I started something I called The Fuck You I Built a Goddamn House Fund.   The premise was pretty simple--I was going to take 10% of whatever money crossed my hands in 2010--some of it pre-tax waitressing tips, some of it post-tax paychecks, some of it birthday money from Aunt Sue--and give it to charity.  I chose ten percent because it was simple, and it, you know, has some historical precedent. 

At the end of each month, I'd divide my income by ten, subtract whatever piddly checks I'd made out to Amnesty International and the Nature Conservancy, and sock the rest away into said fund.  When there was enough to build a goddamn house, I was going to write the check, and in October, I did, and paid for a house for a family in Nicaragua.  Whatever money was left over, I was rolling over into a new project. 

So.  Now 2011 is upon us, and I've decided to begin progress on the second house, and the fund needs a new name.  Never one for false humility and inspired by my little brother's referring to his Muncie, Indiana, college rental house as "the beginning of the empire," I'm re-christening this particular charity fund The Fuck You I Built an Empire Fund.

I found this calculator online today that puts the American bitching about money into perspective.  I'm not, by American standards, wealthy.  I am, however, in the top 1.4% of the world's population in terms of purchasing power, so yeah, I'm pretty fucking wealthy indeed.

Here's the thing: if I give away 10% of my income to charity, I'm still in the top 1.7%. 

Now, I'm thirty years old.  Let's suppose I don't retire until I'm 67, which is probably earlier than I actually will.  Let's also suppose that I never become wealthy by American standards, but continue at basically my current barely middle-class salary, where a tenth of the money that crosses my hands in a year is about what it takes to build someone a home through Food for the Poor.  At my current rate of one house per year, that's 37 houses.  At an average of five people living in each house, that's 185 people I could get out of the rain and into permanent housing. 

And when you put it in those terms, it becomes something pretty fucking huge.  Even if I never really get ahead and never achieve any of my dreams and never really have anything of my own to show for a lifetime of working, I can say, "Fuck you.  I built a goddamn empire." 

Now, what is my point, other than obvious braggery?  A whole fucking lot of us can do this.  I know times are tough, and I know that a lot of people are out of work and drowning in bills.  I'm not picking on them.  I'm picking on the rest of you. 

Go fucking do something.