QUICK QUESTION
Sure it's US-based but hopefully, hopefully, it will make sense in the end.
Which organisation gave three-quarters of all charity money given last year by philanthropists for pandemic relief in the US?
THE INTERLUDE
Living up in Aucklandtown, we are thankfully back to level 1 and life is back to the new post covid normal, not the pre covid normal, we are never going back there.
I was finishing up a brief supermarket shop, well it was less of a shop and more of a desire to eat some chippies. I just wanted to blob on the couch and watch a movie and have some delicious salt and vinegar chips.
I have been craving salty things lately, but that another story.
There was a check out aisle freeing up and the self serve check out had a line so I thought I would sneakily have an old fashioned experience. I put all my food on the conveyor and walked to the end, put the shopping basket on the packing area, then got my reusable bag ready to absorb my soon to be eaten chippies.
The young guy working behind the counter went to put the shopping basket away and I tried to stop him and said I would take it back. He said its ok, I replied that is was no trouble and that my motto is don't be a dick. You could see in his eyes a million and one times someone had been a dick to him and after being overloaded with memories he just smiled and said yes. It was as if his brain had to do a reset and shut down before he could speak.
It shocks me that people are rude to, what is mostly teenagers, or any people in the service industry. The whole notion that you are somehow superior to someone gives you the right to belittle those beneath you immediately invalidates your opinion that you are superior.
My take is the best human beings elevate those around them to levels they didn't think they could get to. We hear so many stories of horrible things and we miss out on all the small stories of human kindness and decency.
Steve Maraboli said "the right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same thing.
Go do the hard thing.
THE ANSWER
Mackenzie Scott, formerly Bezos, who helped create Amazon has been a donating monster. She has given away billions (that's with a B, not an M) of dollars to many different charities and foundations without stipulations for how it is to be spent.
Sure, she is super-rich, but you also didn't hear about her giving.
Maybe I am cynical, most definitely, I am a little cynical, but I am tired of seeing "successful" people giving money which you can see is a marketing stunt/tax right off. The desire isn't to do good, but to be looking to do good.
Scott gave without fanfare, without press releases, not an ego-boosting PR/Marketing exercise, she did it because its the right thing to do and because she can.
We can't all give away billions of dollars, but we can be kind to each other.
REMINDER
For those that don't have time, here is the gist of the email.
To hook up your friends with a great Straightface shave, send them the offer code SHARING to give them $7 off their first order of Straigthface. For ever person you get to sign up we will give you $7 off your next subscription refresh.
So 5 friends signed up you get 5 orders at $7 off. It's a clickable link that will add the discount automatically, so just forward that section or the whole email.
This offer is available till the end of March.
MOMENT OF GRATITUDE
I got to spend a few hours with my little nephew yesterday. I hadn't seen him for a month or so since they live down in Christchurch. When he woke up he looked at me for ages as if something was going on in his head but he couldn't quite work out what was going on.
A couple of minutes later he was crawling and jumping on me and then after taking him and my little sis out for lunch he was falling asleep on my shoulder.
I can't be in his life as much as I would like to be to take some of the burdens off my little sister but for a few hours I got to chip in, it was lovely.
Shave well, be awesome, elevate those around you to higher things, be kind.
Luke
