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One of my favorite Charlie Munger speeches seems relevant [1]. > I have a friend who carried a big stack of linen cards about this thick, and when somebody wou
by jumbopapa 7y ago
One of my favorite Charlie Munger speeches seems relevant [1].
> I have a friend who carried a big stack of linen cards about this thick, and when somebody would make a comment that reflected self-pity, he would take out one of the cards, take the top one off the stack and hand it to the person, and the card said, “Your story has touched my heart. Never have I heard of anyone with as many misfortunes as you.
Sure, you might not start with as much as someone else. That doesn't change the effects of compound interest - you can still have have an exponential return.
[1] - https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/2007-usc-law-school-commencement-address-by-charlie-munger https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/2007-usc-law-school-co...
- auiya 7y agoThat's quite a concerted way of displaying his complete lack of empathy. Imagine if he put the same effort into bettering humanity rather than chasing wealth and snubbing nose.
- jumbopapa 7y agoAre you really implying that Charlie Munger hasn't bettered humanity? He has given money generously and created wealth for countless people. It's not lacking empathy. At the end of the day the only thing you can remain control of is your attitude. Are you going to let unfortunate circumstances continue to ruin your life or are you going to do something about it? Charlie developed this thinking when he son died of leukemia at age 9. He was devastated, but he decided it wasn't going to be a drag on the rest of his life.
- auiya 7y agoPhilanthropy on that level is generally done to protect one's wealth from taxation, and has little to do with moral compassing, empathy, or generosity.
- eigenvalue 7y agoIt's not about displaying empathy, it's about addressing what will actually help the person, and complaining almost certainly won't. The quote continues: "Well, you can say that’s waggery, but I suggest that every time you find you’re drifting into self-pity—I don’t care what the cause, your child could be dying of cancer, self-pity is not going to improve the situation—just give yourself one of those cards. It’s a ridiculous way to behave and when you avoid it you get a great advantage over everybody else, almost everybody else, because self-pity is a standard condition and yet you can train yourself out of it."
- sigstoat 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger#Wealth_and_philanthropy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger#Wealth_and_phil...