I would like to feel sorry for this guy, but...

I am watching the nightly news on NBC, and there is a piece about how grocery stores are booming thanks to more people cooking instead of eating out, etc.  This is great.  They are talking about how they are hiring and all these people who used to have other jobs are now "settling" for entry level jobs in grocery stores.

They feature a guy who is working in produce at Whole Foods, but he has his PhD.  His quote:

"my dissertation was in the use of fictional forms of autobiography in Peruvian Literature." He is fine with a job that is "more simple" where you "clock in at 9 and out at 5".

My questions are as follows:

1 - What was the job market for this guy prior to the recession

2 - Are the hours for teaching "fictional forms of autobiography in Peruvian Literature" really grueling?  Is this a much needed respite from being pretentious?

3 - Is he kidding me with this?

The show ends with a group of kids are are gathering up supplies to send to Africa - clothes, cloth to make clothes, notebooks etc.  They cut to an interview with the teacher who has a chalkboard leaning up against the orphanage wall while the kids sit on the dirt outside to learn.  He is very excited because now he can assign them homework because each child has their own pen.  They didn't have this before. Many of these kids are getting their first pair of shoes.

Now I am thinking:

1 - Why doesn't Peruvian Literature professor spend some time on this?

2 - Since I am the one shopping for the organic produce he is selling and not shopping at Cub and sending the extra money to Africa or even kids here who don't have supplies, where do I get off judging him?

This is a long way to point your attention to www.donorschoose.org - because I love this site and haven't given money there in a while.  No matter how tight I might think my situation is, it is good to have a reminder that I am rich beyond the imagination of most people in the world, and if you are reading this, you probably are too.

So, next week I will clip some coupons and send some money here as well.