Ripple of Kindness: Being Rich at Heart
“Being kind starts a ripple that spreads” — Adhrit
About two weeks ago, I turned eight. The night before my birthday my mom and I had this conversation where she told me that tomorrow was going to be so much fun. I told her that there are so many children around the world who do not get to celebrate birthdays. In fact, many of the children do not know when their birthday might be, since they do not have parents who would tell them that. I would like to celebrate their birthdays someday. Listening to this conversation my grandparents made a small donation at a local orphanage. There are many people in this world, who have a huge heart. I will introduce you to some of these people today.
Do you know a woman donated $150,000 to The University Of South Mississippi? Isn’t this a huge amount of money? What sort of businesswoman do you think she might be? Her name is Osceola McCarty and this was her whole life’s savings. She had been a washerwoman her whole life and gave away almost every penny in her savings to the University of South Mississippi. She herself had not studied beyond the sixth grade and now her donation sponsors the education of African American students. Anyway, washerwomen don’t earn a lot, do they? But this act of kindness was unexpected of her, she is supporting the education of the African Americans.
Have you heard about the famous Mother who was supposed to be from India but was actually a Macedonian? That’s right! Mother Teresa! Mother Teresa helped the poor and the dying, even though she herself had health complications. When she set up her first center in India, she cared for all the people there as if they were her family. When she set up her centers all over the world, she couldn’t have cared for them all from one place, but she still cared! It is said that she is called the Saint of the Gutters, because when we would say Ew! At the thought of going into slums, she just went in without a word, did not talk unless necessary. She served from her heart.
Back in the country of the second largest population, this man changed a company called Wipro and changed it to an electronics company instead of groceries. Yes, it is none other than Azim Premji! He was from a humble background but he didn’t let that stand in his way. He founded the Azim Premji Foundation and gave away half of his wealth, and he has joined The Giving Pledge. This is the largest donation in India. The Azim Premji Foundation is a non-profit organization that does charity work and also gives to education and healthcare. He also started a University. This is one of his quotes: “When the rate of change outside is more than what is inside, be sure that the end is near.” What do you think?
Have you heard about an industrialist who started giving away his life savings to philanthropy? Let me introduce him to you. His name is Andrew Carnegie and he was the richest man in America, in his time. He gave a lot of money, about $350 million ($350m in 1919 is equivalent to about $5.3 billion in 2019) after his retirement in philanthropy to 2500 libraries, and town halls. He himself had stopped schooling after fifth grade. He was an avid reader and he wanted to help communities build spaces for learning. He didn’t want to announce his donations in public, so he remained anonymous. He also founded Carnegie Mellon University. Even though many people may think he was morally terrible as an industrialist he wanted to help society by large. One of his quotes “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Isn’t this true?
These people have done a lot to help people that they do not know, which in turn has won millions of hearts. I have taken a few examples of such people and I hope that many of you will do the same. I pledge to donate to make the world a better place, also to protect animals and help in nature conservation efforts.
References
- Image of Azim Premji from: https://images.app.goo.gl/quDXjsYxjJPvjqX46making-of-azim-premji-the-philanthropist-1561390035003.html
- Image of Osceola McCarty from: https://myhero.com/oseola-mccarty
- Image of Mother Teresa from: https://images.app.goo.gl/GViXsbKwktfwRBMU8
- Image of Andrew Carnegie from: https://images.app.goo.gl/mH1sMfTpf9NdgoWr6
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
