Straight Post

Twist

Warren Buffet is in India. The greedy old man of the world (oops, sorry,  he pledged 100-1 percent of his money to charity isn’t it? ) was in India to promote his philanthropic activities. The other day i was keenly watching his press meet on TV along with millions of Indians who wanted to learn some “wisdom” from the old man. The man is quick, witty and highly responsive taking into account his age(80yrs). Somewhere in between the interview i was thinking of Maslow and his theory of Hierarchy, Presumably this buffet guy must be at the top of the pyramid, the man who achieved self-realization, but i feel otherwise.

First of all Maslow theory is not universal. For a person like Gandhi, physiological needs like sex, food( taking out things like breathing, excretion etc on which he has no control on ) are not the “primary” needs. He would starve himself to death if he has to. I am sure Gandhi wouldn’t have cared about the other hierarchical needs like safety(he lived in a hut), love ( i don’t think so). So Gandhi’s primary needs are somewhere in between the top 2 layers, esteem and self realization. Maslow’s theory states that self-realization is where it all ends, that there is nothing beyond it, but i feel otherwise.

Take for Example, Berlusconi, my favorite icon, Italian PM. For him sex came after self realization!. Indian politicians never cross the primary needs!, Our PM, Dr Manmohan singh directly jumped to self realization without any intermediate steps. So the theory is highly debatable.

I don’t believe in philanthropy. If i am a billionaire  and if i spend 1 billion to feed a million of malnutrition-ed  Ethiopian children for 1 day, who will feed them tomorrow?. So they will eventually starve to death if there are no systems in place. Simple mathematics says that there are very few resources(also diminishing) left on this globe to feed ever growing populations. And i don’t think Buffet or Bill gates or any philanthropist is unaware of this fact. So the question, why do they do what they are doing?

Some things are above our understanding, like why the allies are bombing Libya, is it for the oil or to safeguard human rights. Why a person like Bill gates, who is often accused of promoting monopoly and greedy capitalism became the flag bearer of universal philanthropy.

Bill gates is a “self -realized” man the moment he set his foot in his newly found Microsoft office. So what has changed him now?.  I think once any person reaches the stage of self realization he  has to come down the pyramid, its a cycle. Modern age philanthropy promoted by super rich is more about “themselves” than the people they are serving. Many people are of the opinion that once they reach their goal, they want to give back something to the society, but they fail to realize that they are giving to satisfy they own need of self esteem. Anyways, don’t curse me, i am a big fan of  Johnny Depp  “Take what you can, Give nothing back” !!