I was speaking with a gentleman last night who told me that he thinks truly good people volunteer to help others, but they never talk about the fact they volunteer. They just do in silence.

I have another friend who lashed out both the members of the tea party and the people who marched to make fun of the tea party. Waste of time, he said, adding that if you want to make a difference, you should go volunteer at a soup kitchen and then "don't tell anyone about it."

You can definitely go overboard with telling people about the details of your own personal life. That being said, I don't think that talking about how you volunteered your to help a charity is enough of a transgression to negate any good you might have done. The old adage about moderation might apply here, but if you're doing good, I don't think it hurts to talk about it. Quite the opposite, actually.