From:
Carter Kagume
To:
The rich people of the world
Dear rich people,
Money is an asset that has many positive benefits - you can buy goods and services, a sense of security, you can take care of yourself and you can live a comfortable life.
You can use money to benefit yourself or you can use it to benefit others. I'm asking you to use it to benefit others so we can take care of the whole world and begin to live as one family.
Money is energy and energy is potential. This letter is addressed to the rich because the rich have money, energy that can be used to help the whole world.
When money is consolidated in the hands of a few, it becomes a trapped resource. It's potential is wasted on serving the excessive consumerism of a few instead of serving the basic necessities of many. A few live in excessive abundance, while many suffer in poverty.
Today we glorify wealth and selfishness; soon we will glorify altruism, acts of kindness and compassion and acts of bestowal that seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
MONEY DOES NOT FULFILL
Money does not fulfill all desires. No matter how much you have, you remain strangely unfulfilled.
Today, people gain wealth at the expense of others. Fierce competition is driven by a "survival of the fittest" mentality, where one gains and another loses.
Gaining at the expense of others is nothing to be proud of. Whether you acquire your wealth through hard work, luck, deception, fraud, hereditary ties or family connections, feeling entitled to personal profit and gain while others suffer is totally unacceptable.
A bigger house, a newer car or a more exotic experience will not fulfill you. These pleasures are temporary and fleeting and pursuing them will only leave you more unfulfilled. You'll be disappointed because you expected fulfillment and didn't get it.
You are not your money, money is not your identity. You are a person with internal qualities and characteristics; how you use your money is the expression of who you are.
Breaking the psychological and emotional attached to money is hard to do. Yet, I'm asking you to do just that. Use your money to benefit others instead of yourself.
THE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY
The entire world is one big family made up of different family members that have different strengths and abilities. Families take care of one another and support each other.
Would you let a family member starve to death? Today there are billions of people in the world starving and suffering from undernutrition.
Would you let a family member go without proper medical care? Today there are millions of people without access to affordable health care or medication.
People suffer because money is consolidated in the hands of a few, because of rampant corruption, mismanagement, misrule, neglect and selfishness.
Every human being on the face of the planet is entitled to live a dignified life with basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, shelter and medical attention.
A few people can have a tremendous impact on the world. 1% of the world's adult population controls 40% of the world's wealth. The few 1% have the potential to help millions.
Your money can be used to benefit millions of people around the world, to bring them out of abject poverty and help solve the critical issues that world is facing today.
CRITICAL EMERGENCIES
Right now, the world faces critical emergencies - billions of people are starving from undernutrition, millions lack adequate drinking water, millions lack medication and millions live in slums and shanties.
These emergencies need to be deal with immediately. There is absolutely no reason why these critical problems exist in the world today. There is no excuse for it.
We have the intelligence, technology, education and training to deal with these issues. We are well informed and can't feign ignorance.
It will take teams of social scientists, business managers, organizers, technicians, health care workers, support staff and many others to solve these problems.
It can be done and your money can be used to help. By solving these critical issues, we'll bring humanity out of this state of critical distress up to an acceptable humane standard of living.
Once these critical issues have been solved, we can move on to improving life for everybody else on earth based on the principles of mutual guarantee and reciprocal concern for one another.
SOLUTION
I know what I'm asking you to do is hard, it may sound impossible, but I still have to ask.
Use your money to benefit others instead of yourself, help others instead of yourself. By doing so, you'll set an example for the entire world and influence others to do the same.
By seeking to benefit others you'll connect with them in mutual concern and reciprocity. Your fulfillment will come from their fulfillment, your happiness will come from their happiness.
Your legacy won't be about how much money you had, rather it'll be about how much you helped others and how many lives you changed for the better.
The whole world has to undergo this change, from selfishness to concern for others. We can all be heroes by actively engaging in this transformative process, by setting altruistic examples for others.
We will succeed, but only together.
May The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you. May His Name be glorified forever.
God is with us and to Him we shall all return.
Carter
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
