Maybe Bill Gates really is a POS

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by tucker6

Why?

I speak from experience. When I started in the grocery business, I personally knew more than a few people who had gotten into the business during the same time that I did. We all used to be quite close, and we would joke around with each other in the early hours of the morning...when we would go and shop for our produce in the Chicago-area marketplaces. We would talk about our goals and our dreams...about how successful we were going to be...and how much "good" we would do for our employees, and the world in general.

Fast forward several decades...and most of these same people proved that they had the drive (and the good luck) to make themselves very wealthy. I am talking net worths in the $100-$200 millon range; one of them has even reached BILLIONAIRE status. We still stay in occasional touch, but we no longer talk about the good that we can do in the world. And the stories that circulate about them are painful to hear. Drug addictions, divorces, weird sexual habits, employee abuses, tax problems, government lawsuits, etc. Not a single one of these "super-successful" people even resembles the kind-hearted person that they used to be before all the money and the power were attained.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I am no-where near these people in the "success" department...and for that I thank my lucky stars every day. Some things should come only in moderation...and "success" is definitely one of those things.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I speak from experience. When I started in the grocery business, I personally knew more than a few people who had gotten into the business during the same time that I did. We all used to be quite close, and we would joke around with each other in the early hours of the morning...when we would go and shop for our produce in the Chicago-area marketplaces. We would talk about our goals and our dreams...about how successful we were going to be...and how much "good" we would do for our employees, and the world in general.

Fast forward several decades...and most of these same people proved that they had the drive (and the good luck) to make themselves very wealthy. I am talking net worths in the $100-$200 millon range; one of them has even reached BILLIONAIRE status. We still stay in occasional touch, but we no longer talk about the good that we can do in the world. And the stories that circulate about them are painful to hear. Drug addictions, divorces, weird sexual habits, employee abuses, tax problems, government lawsuits, etc. Not a single one of these "super-successful" people even resembles the kind-hearted person that they used to be before all the money and the power were attained.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I am no-where near these people in the "success" department...and for that I thank my lucky stars every day. Some things should come only in moderation...and "success" is definitely one of those things.

Moderation is good...very good.

Prov 30:8-9
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
NIV

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I speak from experience. When I started in the grocery business, I personally knew more than a few people who had gotten into the business during the same time that I did. We all used to be quite close, and we would joke around with each other in the early hours of the morning...when we would go and shop for our produce in the Chicago-area marketplaces. We would talk about our goals and our dreams...about how successful we were going to be...and how much "good" we would do for our employees, and the world in general.

Fast forward several decades...and most of these same people proved that they had the drive (and the good luck) to make themselves very wealthy. I am talking net worths in the $100-$200 millon range; one of them has even reached BILLIONAIRE status. We still stay in occasional touch, but we no longer talk about the good that we can do in the world. And the stories that circulate about them are painful to hear. Drug addictions, divorces, weird sexual habits, employee abuses, tax problems, government lawsuits, etc. Not a single one of these "super-successful" people even resembles the kind-hearted person that they used to be before all the money and the power were attained.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I am no-where near these people in the "success" department...and for that I thank my lucky stars every day. Some things should come only in moderation...and "success" is definitely one of those things.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply Gus. I understand where you are coming from. I've met many wealthy people that are still salt of the earth nice. Maybe you can still be.nice with $20M but change when your bank account gets to $100M. I don't know. Unfortunately, it's likely your experience is more common than mine.