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8 Comments
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Exactly. Legacy is very important...though i don't think thats what Bill Gates had in mind when he established the foundation.
As for me, when i die, if i do have remaining assets i would 1) establish a trust so that my decendents will have a good education. 2) The rest will be donated to either fund medical/scientific research or to further the cause of the species. It excludes the family home of course... - Promantarius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This is probably going to sound pessimistic regardless of how I phrase it:
Who honestly cares about what they leave behind after they die?
If you think about it for a minute, you'll come to the conclusion that humans are self centered creatures; we won't do anything that doesn't benefit us, whether directly or indirectly. From that we can deduce that when someone plans a 'legacy', they aren't actually planning for the legacy itself, but rather the benefits they'll gain from having those plans enacted before they die. I sincerely doubt Bill gives a flip about what happens after he dies, as it's going to be irrelevant (if you believe in an afterlife, what happens 'on earth' once you're dead will be irrelevant as you'll be elsewhere, and if you don't well... it's still irrelevant: You'll be dead).
If you buy someone a drink at the bar, it's not just generosity (though that's how they might perceive it), you have ulterior motives (likely you want to 'hook up' with them).
What I'm trying to say is, if he is indeed planning a 'legacy', then everyone is playing into his mind game. The moment he announced his plans to spend more time at the foundation, people thought more highly of him. He would've been flooded with letters, praise and various other things due to the generosity of his gesture. He's gaining respect on the massive level. And he's gaining it now.
Think about it szelij; you'd tell your descendants about the trust and gain respect. You'd tell people about your donations and gain respect. We all know how valuable respect is, and how hard it can be to earn it. You aren't considering doing it for the legacy, you're considering doing it for what you'll gain before you die.
The overall point of this post: Your own legacy is not important unless it gets you something before you die (and in most cases this would be respect).
Don't plan to die, plan to do things before you die. - accidentaldog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This path has already been taken by Alfred Nobel.
And before anyone begins to hate me, I am by no means comparing Windows to dynamite, although they both garnered fortunes for their respective inventors. - jla1987, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I believe the article. I didn't look at it like that when I first heard about the donation, but now I see that Gates will be remembered for helping the world.
- Mstrommen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nice
- BUrAph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well look at Warren Buffett. With the 35 or so billion he is giving away, he can easily create his own charity and name it after himself. But instead he is giving it to Bill Gates to put in his own charity.
- googleisgod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Read in one of the Stephen covey books - the primary instincts of men are "to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy" - guess bill is doing the last part of this...
Also Warren Buffet is encouraging a few more of his friends to take the same path - probably donate to Bill's charity or go it on their own. These fortunes will be much more effective in solving the major problems in the world like quality health care than any government can...
And yes, i think people will definitely remember bill as the man who helped them live better when their own governments were standing around mired in corruption...
He'll become more famous now than he ever was. - selfstaterops, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Both. take jfk for example. I've always thought he was a great man, but every now and then I run into a baby boomer who says him and his whole family are a bunch of crooks.
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