Entitlement, Vegevangelizing, Meeting Young Travelers

Being a vegetarian, taking a classes on human rights, international relations, practical ethics, ... these things all contribute to various discussions and thoughts that lead me to a question of entitlement. To what degree we are entitled to anything that we have or could have?

When it comes to diet - are we entitled to eat animals because we can? because we are more intelligent, rational, spiritual, ...? are we entitled to avoid inconvenience and please our tastebuds at the expense of another creature's pain and death? Raised as a vegetarian I've found that question easy for me to answer, but it always becomes less clear when people refer to those in other countries who may not have the ability to support themselves nutritionally without eating meat (based on their situation: poverty, geography, geology, ...). Should one die if the only way of living is killing an animal? Many would answer no, but then the question remains, where do you draw the line?

What about money? There are people less fortunate than us (true for anyone literate enough to read this). People without money, food, water, education, medicine, safety, ... Theoretically, if you have $1000 for one week, whatever you don't spend on yourself can be spent towards helping those that are less fortunate by some means or another. While most would agree that a rich man, given the opportunity to give a starving man a $10 meal and eating a $30 meal instead of a $40 meal to compensate would agree that that would be a good thing to do. I often look at some things that people spend money on and think that it is unnecessary, a waste, could be spent much better on something, or someone, else. Where do you draw the line though? It's one thing to avoid spending over $5000 on a watch, but what about having 7 houses (McCain), taking annual vacations to glitzy ski resorts in the Alps, buying a luxury car, flying first class, or enjoying fine wine? How much of our wealth (earned or not) are we entitled to enjoying? To what level of luxury or comfort should we elevate ourselves before giving to charity? Contemporary philosopher and Princeton professor Peter Singer wrote a piece on the topic in the NYTimes: "What Should a Billionaire Give - And What Should You?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17charity.t.html). His proposals are significant and would yield a great amount of money for charity but would leave the richest with over a million dollars per year. It also mentions Kravinsky, a man who spoke to our Practical Ethics class, who approaches ethics and duty with a mathematical mind, and gave his kidney to a complete stranger because the chance of his dying as a result of it was approximately 1 in 4000 and not giving his kidney would be equivalent to valuing his own life 4000 times more than another (as opposed to the equal valuation that he advocates). Personally, thinking about all of this tempts me towards something like the following:
make as much $ as possible in whatever job i choose (do well at it, and don't avoid trying to maximize pay, though of course prioritize enjoying the job etc), then live a somewhat (define this!) minimalistic lifestyle, where all $ above X amount (poverty line? no, something though (figure this out)) is divided (figure out %s) into $ for savings (in case of emergency, for children's education, for special family or other significantly justified expenditures) and $ to give away. key is that i (and eventually we) live as if our total income was X amount (esp. as far as buying consumer products is concerned, and a house, etc).

They say the young are overly idealistic. Let's see what happens!

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Vegevangelizing -> advocating vegetarianism through evangelical (esp. Christian) teachings.
i.e. use Bible (or equiv.) to argue for vegetarianism.
((http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2008/julaug/6.46.html ... can do better, I know))

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On the way back from a Sydney suburb I met two Brazilian sisters on the way to a party somewhere. Chatted with them during the ride, they invited me to the party (which I couldn't go to) and we exchanged numbers for later hanging. Later hanging never happened, but meeting young travelers is fun! Meeting Brazilian girls is also fun (did I mention a similar interaction with a couple of Brazilian girls at a bus stop in the city at night?).