Serendipitous the Third

Jan 19, 2005 15:37

So after the my moodcrash yesterday I went to the gym to run out some of the frustration on the gerbilwheel (treadmill). And halfway into my run, the treadmill just stops. Completely.
Won't start.
SO, annoyed, I move to another treadmill across the way. And there's an Esquire mag there, something I would never have picked up on my own to leaf through...but hey it's there so I do.
And I fall upon this article that seems Damn appropriate to all that's been running through me:

The Next Way to Give
Copyright (c) Esquire 2004

Pierre Omidyar is the modest man who founded eBay and now has $10 billion with which to change the world. The thing is, he wants you to tell him how he should give his money away.
By John H. Richardson

Pierre Omidyar sits in front of me in a blue shirt and khaki pants, looking like nobody special. "I think we're on to something," he says. "It's about changing the way we think about our roles in communities and changing the way we think about fellow human beings."

He's modest but self-assured, cordial but caught up in his thoughts. Every so often, I have to remind myself:
The last time this thirty-seven-year-old man had a big idea, it made him $10 billion.

"It's a pretty hard problem," he says. "But if we move the needle just a tiny bit, it could have great societal impact."
His plan for moving that needle:

Give away all of his money in his lifetime.
Reach down into the very source code of humanity and change a few critical lines. ..."
(read the whole article here )

Coincidence? Or the universe nudging me/us to go check it out and think about joining in this discussion/forum?

philanthropy, pier 10, omidyar

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