Bill Gates Harvard Commencement

I was reading an article in the WSJ about Bill Gates' Harvard Commencement Speech yesterday. While not as funny as Will Farrell's commencement speech (worth reading again) it was still good. The article talked about how Bill Gates spent six months pulling his speech together and the time, effort and reflection he took on the message he wanted to leave. As you probably know, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving over a $100 billion dollars to help eradicate disease, hunger, improve education and eradicate poverty. This line struck me in his speech:

But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.

Now don't go running off and accusing Bill Gates of being a socialist. His $60 billion should be enough to convince you that he's a full blown capitalist who cares about the poor and hurting to at least some degree. The fact that he plans to give it all away before he dies fascinates me.

I've heard a lot of Christians and pro-life people complain about the fact that guys like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett a fraction of their went towards "family planning groups", specifically around researching the birth-control RU-486. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with that, but I agree with the 99.99% of what they're doing with the rest of it. Should I write them off completely because of the .01%? I dig what James says about our faith being measured by how we're living our life:

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. - James 2:14-17

Like or dis-like Bill Gates, he puts his money where his mouth is on feeding the poor, healing the sick and clothing the naked. I like the way Tony Campolo paraphrases Jesus words in Matthew 25:

On judgment day, He’s not going to ask you Theological questions … its not going to be “Virgin Birth … strongly agree, somewhat agree, no opinion …” …Its gonna be “I was hungry, did you feed me? I was naked, did you clothe me? I was sick, did you care for me? I was an alien, did you take me in? … because I’m not up in the sky somewhere, I’m waiting to be loved in people who hurt.”

I've by no means got this figured out. I'm still trying to figure out what it looks like to simplify my life by getting rid of stuff, let alone being out there feeding the hungry and helping the poor in a significant way. The whole deal seems so overwhelming, which is why I like Bill Gate's message - to focus on one small piece, and go after it full-bore.