Do I really have a cause?

Image representing Bill Gates as depicted in C...
“I’m so rich I give it away.”

Sometimes I sit back and think about the kind of things I might stand for if I were one of those super-rich dudes like Bill Gates. You know the type; they’re so wealthy and set up that they can just sit back and watch their money roll in, but who just does that? They have to have a life and so some of these people turn to funding and working for causes to keep them busy in between meeting with royalty and hanging out with rock stars. Plus, there’s a sort of curve to making money where at some point you profit more if you start to give some of it away. That’s where philanthropy comes in.

But let’s start small and just assume that my daily responsibilities were taken care of and I had that kind of leisure time to really throw myself behind a cause. What would it be? Good question! I’ve got a couple of possibilities stewing in my nugget here.

surfer surfing
Look Mom, I don’t CARE what others think of me! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You see, my hidden agenda in those endeavors would be to find a way to go surfing while also throwing myself behind a cause. So I figured, what are those causes where surfing might be prevalent? I can go work with children in Africa, which I think would be awesome; plus I would have the opportunity to see African wildlife up close and personal. Then I can sing “we got ze Rob Ross | only in Kenya.” I can teach, or I can do relief work like passing out crackers or something. I’m pretty flexible in that area.

My other idea is that I can work to keep beaches clean, and facilitate recycling programs, spread awareness about pollution and that huge whirlpooln of plastic bottles and debris in the ocean, the North Pacific Garbage Patch.

I think in overarching terms, environmentalism would be my cause because surfers are typically environmentalist by virtue of their pastimes. But I’m already a recycling junkie, and I’m already a surfing wannabe, so I think the two go together pretty well.

If I had nothing to worry about, that is exactly what I would be doing.


This post was prompted by today’s Daily Post prompt.

 

12 thoughts on “Do I really have a cause?

  1. I know one of the fifty richest people in the world. And, I would never, ever trade places with her for even a tenth of her money. She can’t set foot outside of her house without someone asking her for something. (I confess that I am even guilty.) It isn’t that I feel sorry for her. I don’t. I just couldn’t imagine living with the knowledge that every single human being I encounter is being nice to me for the possibility of getting something from me.

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