Wisdom of Children - Part 2

Another Matthew moment.

He asks his mother a tough question.

"Mom, what would you do if you were the Prime Minister of Singapore."

Wife is stunned. She has never thought of this before.

"I know what I would do. I would ban all cars. All people would have to run or cycle. This would save the environment."

Who has the heart to tell him that he is wrong? And is he wrong?

Children can see no limitations. To the child, anything is possible. To adults, we only see the obstacles.

Giving it Away

There is deep wisdom in children.

Matthew, my eldest, learnt the other day that Bill Gates was the richest man on the planet.

He said to his mother,

"Do you know that Bill Gates has $50bn? That is more money he can spend in his lifetime. If I had that much money, do you know what I would do?"

His mother looked at him expectantly.

"I would give $49bn away, and keep $1bn. It would be less of a headache. I wouldn't need the rest at all."

Little did Matthew know, that this is exactly what Bill Gates is trying to do. Bill has given over $30bn to his foundation. Warren Buffett is doing the same. He wants to give away 85% of his holdings in Berkshire Hathaway to the Gates Foundation.

It is hard for us to be generous - both with money and with our time. In the rat race of life, we always want more. But at some stage in our lives, for it to be meaningful, we need to start giving back.

We need to think like children again and say that this is enough, and I don't really need that. When we can do this, then I think we have truly grown up.

my first blog

Welcome to all.

This is my first blog and it is dedicated to my Godchildren.

There are four of you - Joshua, Andrea and Aurielle and Emersen. (Well, there is actually one more called Zac - a two year old. By the time he becomes a teenager, I will be communicating to him through our e-mail connected handphones.....)

All four of you are teenagers - a great age. Since I have so little time to talk to you physically, and because all three of you are of the net generation, I thought I would simply blog you my thoughts so that we stay in touch.

This blog is meant to help me as much as it will hopefully help you. It allows me to share with you my reflections, and hopefully prompt you to think about and form opinions of little things in life.

To all other readers, you are welcome too :)