A couple of decades ago, when all I knew about him was that he was founder of Microsoft and the man primarily responsible for the development of one of the most despised yet widely used pieces of software on Earth(yes Windows), I had the opinion that Bill Gates was nothing but a money grubbing power hungry douche bag.
He often looked foolish when product demos would fail spectacularly or he would say things that just did not make any sense to a person grounded in reality. So after awhile, I added idiot to the list of adjectives that I would use to describe Mr Gates. He may have been one of the richest people in the world but who cares about that?
In my opinion, if you aren't making the world a better place to be you are taking up valuable space that could be put to better use. Now in all fairness, my connection to current events is often...limited? special? non-existent? So, much of what I had heard about Bill Gates was just that, hearsay. A friend or family member would describe something they had heard or seen that he said or did and would provide commentary and I would form an opinion based on their third hand information.
At one point someone mentioned to me that he was donating a portion of his wealth to charity. When I heard that I thought, no big deal lots of wealthy people give money away. They don't really care about making a difference. They just want a tax break. Then I found out that Bill Gates has given over a third of his wealth away, more than 28 billion dollars. That caused me to change my thinking and to re-evaluate this person.
A greedy, power hungry jerk does not just give up that kind of cash. The mindset of a control freak is that more and more is always needed. And thinking about others and their welfare is just not in the cards. After doing some research of my own and not relying on other people's impressions of him It seems that many of the things that I thought about him were simply untrue.
One of the primary reasons that he stepped down from Microsoft was to be able to spend more time focused on the charity that he and his wife Melinda set up. I have been following him off and on through linkedin for awhile now. He recently posted a short bit describing a much longer piece that he and Melinda did debunking three of the major myths about foreign aid. He goes into detail about just how off the mark most people's thoughts about foreign aid really are. I have to admit before reading it, I was just as guilty of believing those myths.
Up until this point I have been taking the word of people who really had no better idea of how large scale charity contributions work than I do. But this is something that he has been doing for years now in a big way and directly hands on. He has been to many of the small villages and town that his foundation provides the aid to. He has worked directly with the recipients of that aid and is in a position to know where the money does and does not go.
It is really great stuff. I implore you to read it. The facts he presents are seriously powerful. He talks about the end of third world countries forever, not by destruction but through growth. It's really awesome.
http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/?cid=bg_li_ll0_012111#section=home
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