An article in The New York Times two days ago reports that Warren Buffet, the world's second richest individual, will soon start giving away $37 billion of his personal Berkshire Hathaway stock to five foundations. The biggest recipient will be The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which will receive an estimated $30 billion of Buffet's money. That sum will double the Gates Foundation's resources.
And what does the Gates Foundation do? It is striving to eliminate the world's most killing diseases, many of which affect the world's poorest people in third-world countries. If AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis no longer exist in 20 years, chances are we will have Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to thank.
Now, Bill Gates is the world's richest man and Warren Buffet is the world's second richest. So my question is, why do rich people get such a bad rap? Why are they always blamed for greed, self-indulgence and selfishness? As Gates and Buffet demonstrate, super-rich people can have extraordinarily high morals. They show us that getting rich empowers moral people to accomplish wonderful things in the world.
Let's see it for what it is. When we immediately assume the worst about rich people, it is really our envy talking. Instead of looking at rich people and trying to identify their faults, we should be trying to identify our own faults instead. Instead of looking for reasons why they should not have the money that they do, we should be trying to become wealthy ourselves."
RIGHT ON!!!! is what I have to say. People want to blame the rich for their own personal failures. But the reality is, everyone's life is the result of their own personal choices. The rich have worked hard, given sweat and time to create their wealth and deserve every penny. Although I grew up pathetically poor, I looked to the rich as an example of how to create my life. I followed their lead and became wealthy myself. Now I teach others to do the same.
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