Give Away?

What would you do with $100,000 if you had to spend it and couldn't spend it on yourself?


This question was posed to my sixth graders during their writing extension class.  Every day they are given ten minutes to explore a new prompt, working on enhancing their flow of consciousness and writing abilities.  Today's I found extremely interesting.  What would a sixth grader think to do with $100,000?  


Some of the most common responses included donating to favorite charities - global, local, pet – or giving the money to family members.  Some people even explicitly wrote out the percentages they would give to each family member based on how they perceive those family member's needs.  I found that logic impressive.  Otherwise some students went even further by wanting to donate to schools or universities, build parks and camps, and one person even said he'd give it all to the first random homeless he ran into.  Clearly, the minds of these ten and eleven year olds are hard and working and working in very different ways.


So, that got me thinking.  What would I do with $100,000 I couldn't spend on myself?  Maybe I would help family members pay off bills or put one of them through college.  Maybe I would help a friend start up a company he or she was trying to get off the ground, or, like so many of my other students, I would donate it to a worthy charity.  I would donate it, however, because I would get to write it off on my taxes and probably get some of it back in a refund?  Does that make me somehow less charitable or just more financially savvy?  Who knows.  All I know is one friend, when posed this question, responded with, "I would cry."  How true.  How very very true.  Sorry world, but $100,000 is a lot of money.