Love Humans

The first conversation of the day was how, according to our text book, religion affected the early work ethic of this country.  Therefore, we also talked about whether or not that still mattered, because the country represents so much more than it did before.  Talking about work ethic brought us to other issues, such as philanthropy.  “Philos” means “love of” and “anthropos” means “humans.”  So you are loving humans when you are philanthropic.  One student kept talking about how great Bill Gates is for giving so much money through his philanthropy.  Gates, of course, is the creator of Microsoft, the enormously successful computer software company based in Seattle, where Gates was born.  They design the software running on this same computer as I type these words in Word.  According to Wikipedia, as of this month, he is currently the world’s richest human being when measured in terms of material wealth.  His wife told him to be nice and love humans by investing in organizations that would improve life, and he did, just like the most iconic rich men in America had done before him.  I don’t know exactly what happened in his mind and his heart, but he did give the money, carrying on a proud American tradition of winning everything you can and then giving back as much as you want where you think it belongs in a way that improves the world, however much reality matches their visions.  The same student proudly claimed that Gates was an "atheist," but was still being good to people, as if that needed to be mentioned.  She had been very vocal during the religion discussion the day before.  Most students had merely shrugged their shoulders, said they believed in God, said they didn't, or maybe considered themselves spiritual, whatever that meant.  I love students who share their opinions openly and passionately, and she did not disappoint.

 “How can America be so advanced and publish more scientific papers than any other country and still have so many people believe in God?” she exclaimed.

I don’t know, but I just learned that Gates is one of them, whatever that means.  I'm not sure, because sometimes words have more than one meaning.  Teaching language reminds me of that every day.  According to Wikipedia, Gates said the following during an interview (you can follow up on the sources here):

“I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world.  And that's kind of a religious belief.  I mean, it's at least a moral belief."  In the same interview, Gates said, "I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know."

I read that later in the evening.  At the time I took her word for it.  I guess I learned you can't always take people's word for it.  Which side does that put me on?

My dad, whenever asked about religion, always says, “You must define your terms,” something I know a lot about as a writer, language teacher and even former paralegal.  Whatever it is that he believes, his actions show that he loves humans and works hard for them, because he loves to make people happy.

I agree that there is more than one path to philanthropy.

Does creating joy make you happy?

If yes, then I wouldn’t worry about words.