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Now discovered - a new way to pass time at work, while expanding your vocabulary and giving away rice!

Maybe it's because I've spent the better part of today intently reading last Sunday's New York Times Magazine on giving and philanthropy (focusing on the billionaires and millionaires out there), or my increasing irritation at Oprah, who has now crossed over into the land of reality TV with The Big Give, (that is a blog post all on its own), but it seems the Free Rice site perpetuates this new thought of, 'I give because it feels good for me to help poor people and aren't I a wonderful person because of it,' attitude that permeates our culture when it comes to giving.

I ask, can't we just help without getting anything in return? Apparently not -- below is the first question on the websites FAQs:

How does playing the vocabulary game at FreeRice help me?

Let's think about this for a second. There needs to be an answer on how the game is going to help you - a person who has the priviledge of time, a computer, and internet access -- with reasons like writing better papers, and being more effective at your job, before playing a free game that gives away food to end world hunger. Yikes. While I think the intent behind the site is big-hearted, if this is the way we have to get people to give, we're all in some serious trouble.