Why does it take a disaster or the diagnosis of a deadly disease to make people spring into action? And why are the efforts of these individuals only directed towards their particular diseases?
I came across this interesting article in this months San Francisco magazine. It's about Steve Kirsch, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who founded several companies, including Infoseek, and his committed efforts, in time and money, to finding a cure for Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia, a disease he was diagnosed with in July of 2007.
The article also mentions several other high profile entrepreneurs, who have made similar commitments after being diagnosed with deadly diseases, including Steve Case (AOL), Sergey Brin (Google) and Larry Ellison (Oracle).
Now while I admire these individuals for what they have accomplished in their lives, and their efforts to fight their disease, for me it raises a much larger question. Why does it take a disaster or the diagnosis of a deadly disease to make people spring into action? And why are the efforts of these individuals only directed towards their particular diseases?
In my opinion, it just isn't enough these individuals are trying to do something to help themselves, and others who are lucky [or unlucky] enough to be along for the ride. Where is their commitment to society? What about the millions of Americans (and millions of others around the world), fighting for their lives, but don't have the resources of these individuals? Are they to be left out, and forgotten? Is everyone else not important enough?
Unless we start realizing how are actions affect each other, and that our lives are all interconnected, we are destined [doomed] to endure the same fate as those of the past and currently around the world.