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The Window(s) to Giving

Wagging Away
I'll admit it... I am an idealist, hopelessly so... and I thrill to great speeches (by politicians nonetheless... I told you I was hopeless) and love to read of great acts of selflessness and sacrifice. So today when I read the following quote I caught myself with tears in my eyes.
"I believe with great wealth comes great responsibility - the responsibility to give back to society"(a quote apparently first credited to Spiderman-truly! I kid you not!)
What a truly noble thought. Except it comes from one of the most reviled men in history. Not as many venomous words have been written about the most nefarious villains in history as have been written (and thought true) about Microsoft founder Bill Gates. He's an easy pick right? Rich guy feeding off the system that fed him. World domination is his goal say the critics...he doesn't want anyone else to survive they claim.... and so on and so forth...
But here's an undeniable fact, the guy is the real thing. Smart geek who made it cool to be a nerd. Capitalized on it and made buckets of money. Became the best at what he could do. Here's my idealistic part... I'd like to think he did it just to show that he could... Cos honestly after the first few millions it's easy street for most...
And now he's making it cool to be rich. He' s using his personal power and money to do what he thinks needs to be done for those who need it. His Foundation's grants have helped many parts of the world who've only dreamt of the kind of aid Gates is prepared to offer and (importantly) right NOW!!! So now he's going to privatize charity and damned if he isn't going to do it HIS way!!
So finally the vilified becomes the venerated with one stroke of pure genius marketing aplomb and a few billions worth in personal fortune. Expect to see malaria vaccines on every developing nation's desktop soon!!! Happy giving, Bill Gates. I don't know what you're getting out of it, but I don't care!!!

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