Födelsedagsfilosofi

Johan skickade det här. Hoopla mot charity känns som ett uppbyte, helt klart.

It's not my birthday
by Seth Godin

Not any more.

Some of you may have discovered that today is supposed to be my birthday. No longer. I've never really liked birthday hoopla, especially mine, so I've given my birthday to Scott and the folks at Charity: water.

If you go to the special page they created and buy a well for a village that doesn't have one, you can supply clean water to two people for twenty years. If just a thousand of the readers of this blog do it, we could alter the lives of tens of thousands of people for a generation, and we could do it in just one day. I'm not asking you to do it as a favor to me (that would be silly) but as a favor to you. Because it feels good and because $50 is a screaming bargain--100% goes directly to the well, zero overhead.

In general, I think trade is better than aid, and creating scalable investments that engage the developing world is the best shortcut to bring us all out of poverty. But without a stable infrastructure, none of that works, and water is a key building block in that platform. The key is creating a dependable, long-term supply that communities can count on, and you can be part of that.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to be done with my birthday. Maybe charity day will catch on, with lots of people giving away their birthdays, replacing noise makers and pointy hats. If you've got either the noise makers or the hats, or even digital birthday wishes, send them to Scott, not me.

Happy charity day.

And thanks.