But the cynic in me says that no one has ever acted until the last moment, and that no one can be counted on to help a cause unless the need is immediate.

Well, in a way, this is true. We do all procrastinate a lot. E.g., me and my schoolwork.

But I also rather agree with what balsamic_dragon says. And I think what we want to do is incorporate very small useful changes, instead of feeling guilty that we're not devoting our entire lives to fixing. I mean, most of us recycle now. We didn't do that when I was a kid. Small change incorporated into daily life. Giving a small amount of money to the pound every month. Starting a compost. Sending a soldier a care package. That sort of thing.

Besides, if you're in a non-profit, you want people to be concerned with your cause. But if you take the larger picture, all that matters is that people are involved with a cause. Which, considering the vast number of non-profits and the vast number of problems they all try to fix, sucks if you work for a non-profit. But a more cheerful way to look at it would be to think of the vast number of people that must be giving to various causes to support the existence of such a large number of non-profits.

Uh, I didn't mean this to be so long. All I really wanted to say was that I liked the post.