THE GIVERS AND THE TAKERS

- CAN YOU SPARE A DIME, SIR?

A beggar asking for help like this is not an uncomon event, particulary in some poor
countries around the world.

Quite definitely, the place where you were born could have a very telling impact
in any person's life. A young may be faced with a question like: Where do I want to go in
life? Will there be the opportunities, the challenges that move man to creation, success,
satisfaction and enjoyment of life? His answer will come from the social conditions of the
society where he lives, the fulfilment of his hopes are dependent to a large extent on the requirements and opportunities offered by the society.So his question will have an answer
that is determined by events outside his control and capacity to change. .

This is apropos of the news tonite that Bill Gates will be leaving his job as chairman
of Microsoft and allow a transition period of 2 years before he definitely take up
his other most wanted position...that of being a philantroper. He will devote most of his
time to administer his Foundation with his wife Melina.. Bill Gates is a young 50 years old man, .and since the time
he founded his company- 30 years ago- he has amassed the largest personal wealth
in the world .. He has given away 30 billion dollars of his money to his Foundation
dedicated to bring innovations in health and learning to the global community,
.
In examining the life of some important people, the question of where you were born has large relevance, I believe..

A fortune can be created not only because of where you were born but because
of the personal acumen,on the one hand, and because of the challenges and opportunities available that society can offer.. Men are more likely to succceed, therefore, in affluent societies, where most people have reasonably good income and therefore are able to spend
more money in the amenities of life and thus enjoy a better quality of life.

Yet, you can do only so much even with large amounts of money at your disposal.
My personal question would be: how much money do I want? And. what means being
rich in terms of money....how much rich is rich? That will depend of course of each
individual..

I haven't got enough imagination to try and figure out what I might do with ONE
millions dollars...Having a million dollars? Forget it!!! To be realistic, I could be fairly
happy with a modest
weekly pay of 300 dollars, to be spent,mind you, at the place where I live: Chile.
Oh yes, I could live well on this income, nothing fancy to be sure.
Just enough to pay for my family health expenses, food to
eat reasonably well, keep the car in good shape and take the wife and kids out for
vacation once a year, maybe for 1 week or so, and live of course in a middle class
neigbourhood.

- what? are you asking me how I would live if I could make only 300 dollars a month?
To that question I say: Are you out of your mind, man?

No one can live on that much...or perhaps I should 'that little".

Bill Gates is leaving Microsoft.. as someone put it: to devote his time to help
the poor. The cause of the deprived and sick that he embraces.

What is amazing, aside from the creation of a fortune that makes him the
wealthiest man on earth, is the fact that he is giving away so much money to the
cause of the poor and sick.

- I ask myself: why would a man do a thing like that? Is he crazy? Perhaps this is not
a foolish question. The man has something within himself ...an idea, many ideas,
a sense of purpose, ...at age 13 he was already making programs for computers,he has
the acumen, the goal, and the desire. Still 20 or 30 billions dollars is a lot, an awful lot
of money, more money than anyone can think of as "spare" money.

- Are you rich?...how much money do you give away...how many jobs you created with
your money...do you invest it on people,,,or do you put it away in a foreing bank, in
hard currenchy, to live off nice profits just by keeping it locked? Perhaps you are not
risk prone.

Of course, there is only so much that you can do with money. You can have houses,
condominiums, summer and winter resort places, very fashionable, fast lif....good living
You have a family, a beautiful wife , lovely children going to the best universities, good
health well provided for...no restrictions at all. It's the good life!!

However you can't buy happiness -unless of course you are happy with material things.
You can't buy friendship....you can't sleep in more than 1 bed or gratify your stomach by
stuffing it with delicacies to the point of saturation, which will make you gain a lot of weight, which will make you obese since you won't be able to bribe your stomach, your liver or your
heart...your body will protest and it will scare you to learn of your high cholesterol, or diabetes, but oh yes, you are happy to have a wife,....., just one stomach, just one bed
and just one life. You could have more....or could you?

Any way, the story is not really about Mr. Gates, or not event about money...

Perhaps is more about man's goals, perhaps is more about the stuff man is made of, his ideals , his dreams, his capacity to look around and
see others in despair and recognize a need, an do something about it...
It is about the givers and the takers...It will always be the same story. Those who give
something to the world, to art, to love, to living, to compassion. And the others, who are the
takers, those who take and give little or nothing in return.

Chapeau!!!, Mr. Gates....!!!!

posted by victor @ Friday, June 16, 2006