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LookieNoNookie -> Mods....Please don't move this...this is not political.... (8/16/2013 3:45:48 PM)
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For those of you that are impressed with what the Gates Foundation is doing worldwide (as I am) for education as well as the eradication of malaria and other poor country diseases and, are getting older, trying to figure out what to do with your wealth (regardless of the amount), possibly working on your Wills, I'd like to offer something that may be a little less complicated than what you've put together, trying to give something to various folks who've been nice to you on occasion, a favorite nephew, a neighbor....and even your children.
You are all of the generation wherein which your parents are going to leave you an absolutely unprecedented amount of money, historic amounts by any measure, regardless of your family.
Whatever you do in this life, will be magnified in multiples by what your parents leave you.
The Gates Foundation has already changed the world we live in, for the better.
These folks actually give a shit...and they are...now...making a universal difference.
Malaria is down by quantitative amounts worldwide. They have a plan to eliminate polio, worldwide, before most of us are supposed to pack it in.
Whatever you think about Gates, he's put his money where his (heart) is....helping.
Currently, only billionaires can give to his foundation.
I'm going to give half of my Estate to the Gates Foundation (and I'm not even close to the billionaire level). A truck will roll up when I die (it'll actually probably be a go cart...may end up being a small 5 gallon bucket but....it's something), with a check and they'll be forced to take it....
If millions of others did the same...the world could actually change, and YOU could be a paragon of change.
Read up on their plans....http://givingpledge.org/index.html
When you read it....don't think "well, I'm not a billionaire (there are only hundreds who have agreed to this)"....imagine you're one of millions who have 10 grand to offer....or 100 grand....or 3 million.....and imagine how, when you're gone, all this terrible shit worldwide we're all reading about today....could actually change...improve...
I would ask that anyone who see's value in this go to http://givingpledge.org/contact.aspx and ask why one has to be a billionaire to care about the world, enough to give to an organization that has proven to actually give a shit...and do so in amazingly cost effective ways (here's just one small example...and if you take the time to watch this video...you'll realize quickly, any one of these children's lives saved may just be the kid that cures cancer or HIV): http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_unplugged.html
YOU can change the world.
It's pay it forward on steroids...and it lasts long after you die
They only want half of what you leave to those who come after you.
I think that's (very) little to give.
If you did a good enough job raising your kids....50% of what you leave is more than enough....but for those who have nothing in this world (or less than nothing), your gift can change (at least.....their) world.
I think changing the world is a worthwhile cause.
And for those of you that think Microsoft destroyed the computing universe....remember three things:
1) Bill Gates is not Microsoft.
2) He's already changed the world for millions of children, because he actually gives a shit, who may have died but for his generosity and Foundation and....
3) He's giving it hell to keep doing the same, even as he's often eviscerated in the press solely because he's stupidly gargantually wealthy.
Why someone's net worth should be a (twisted) definition of who that person is....is beyond my comprehension. I've known a lot of incredibly wealthy people (no billionaires), and I've never met one who wasn't thankful for their luck in life and wasn't willing by factors of 100, to give back.
Isn't half of your estate enough for the people you love? I suspect it might be. In some cases, it's far too much. But it's certainly (1/2)....enough for those you brought up well enough to care for themselves.
Isn't half your Estate, to have a shot in changing the world, an appropriate number? (Even if you never see it happen...indeed, all the better if you never do....knowing it will....for one child?).
What better gift to give to your children than, a small gift to them to move forward with, but as a collective gift, changing the world for those they may never meet, but who might, through study and advantage they can't possibly fathom, change your grandchild's life?
Ultimately your gift, aggregating in the trillions from all of us worldwide, to change the world....could....just a little.
I can't change the world....but I know for a fact.....we can.
Few of us have a lot....all of us have some.
Ain't a bad thing you know....changing the world.
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