While I do applaud them for all their efforts, calling them “greatest philanthropists” is a bit of an overstatement. Allow me to relate a story from one the great historical philosophers. He was teaching and told this story (paraphrased a bit), “The local charity was collecting donations. A woman came who had only two pennies and she put both in the pot. Then a man came, he had 10 bags of gold, and he put one full bag of gold in the pot.” Then he asked his students, “Which of those gave the most?” The students exclaimed, “The man, of course! He gave a full bag of gold, where the woman only gave 2 pennies.” “No,” the teacher said, much to the surprise of his students. “The woman gave more because she gave all that she had.”
While Gates and the others are indeed philanthropists, and I applaud them, they are far from the greatest. The greatest philanthropists are those who give all they have, whether it be great or small, in the support of the needy. via Facebook