Charity and Moral Obligation

A friend recently gave 25 dollars to UNICEF. He had been telling himself to donate for awhile, to no avail. With the guiding hand of inebriation, however, he championed children's rights worldwide with the triumphant click of a button...and his debit card.

Making a donation is simple and selfless. But, our conversation lead us to find much deeper, more complex issues in the decision to give. Among others, what is the purpose of your giving? To satisfy your own moral framework? To meet a larger moral obligation? For recognition? Recognition is a significant psychological barrier for many. With the donation to UNICEF, you are affecting children thousands of miles away in an undefinable and unseen way. Without recognition, incentive falls to morality. Moral giving quickly becomes a sticky issue. My friend brought up the following scenario:

You are on your way to an ethics lecture (can this be drenched in any more irony?) and walk past a lake with a baby drowning. You are faced with a decision. Either, ignore the cute, little water-logged bundle of joy, and continue on your way. Or, save the little guy. Saving the baby, however, means ruining your clothes and missing your lecture. If the person agrees that they are obligated to concede a day of productivity and, say, $200 in clothes, then, logically, they are equally obligated to donate $200 to save a child overseas.

This is an effective way of motivating charitable giving, but in my mind, the logic of this moral obligation doesn't stand up. Consider if, instead of walking by one drowning baby, you are subjected to this same situation, day after day, for a year. 365 babies saved, 365 days of lost productivity, and theoretically $73000 in clothes. How can you be morally obligated to save a baby one day, but not the next? Taken to the test, it seems that the rather innocuous moral obligation of $200 soon becomes an entire year's productivity and 73000 dollars.

So, on what basis can you find an indefensible and definable moral obligation to give? Perhaps, instead of seeking an overarching moral framework, giving must be predicated on personal choice and an emotional aversion to suffering. I haven't reached a conclusion, yet. Maybe a donation to UNICEF will clear my mind.