Is our anger toward Jeff Bezos displaced? "If I were a billionaire," we say, "I would stamp out world hunger, not fly into space for 10 minutes." Three thoughts to ponder:
1. There is no "either or." If Bezos wants to end world hunger, he still has the means to do it. Eating my green peas as a child never did help or hurt the starving children in China.
2. Am I willing to judge myself as I judge Bezos? Could I set up a scholarship to give someone an educational start instead of taking a summer vacation? Could you donate to the homeless shelter instead of driving through Starbucks 150 times a year, or skydiving just for the thrill? Can we glimpse how we would spend our billions by looking at how we spend our thousands?
3. Are we really angry at the billionaire who spends his own money as he chooses, or are we angry at a system intentionally designed to create multi-billionaires while much of the world is left to starve? Are we angry enough to fix the system?
1 comment:
Thank you, as always, for helping me be honest with myself.
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