3 ms·

And what is the role of his wife and her schooling from nuns?

by graycat 13y ago

tptacek 13y ago
I don't know, but modern Catholic nuns are kind of bad-ass. For instance, the Ursulines who taught Melinda Gates recently gave a middle finger to the Catholic hierarchy and vocally defended Gates' work despite its support for contraception. Wherever you look for close-minded reactionary people stuck in the 1950s chastising members of their own church for unapproved good works, chances are you'll see nuns on the other side of the argument. I don't doubt that there are a whole lot of bad nuns out there (though just typing those words seems kind of silly to me), but in the modern organized faith they seem like one of the bright spots.
- judk 13y ago
  Do also note that the top of that hierarchy, the current Pope, is dragging the ethical values of the Catholic Church forward through the centuries, despite significant baggage he can't be expected to just discard (though he should if he could)
  - tptacek 13y ago
    The Jesuits are another bright spot in the Catholic church. I had four years of Jesuit high school, and everything people like us seem to like about Pope Frank plays right to the Jesuit type.
- graycat 13y ago
  I have been guessing that the nuns that taught Melinda got her highly devoted to 'charity' in some general sense and that she and Bill had a 'deal': After he worked his tail off at Microsoft to make a lot of money and, thus, necessarily spent a lot of time at the office instead of at home with her and the kids, he was to back off from an active role at Microsoft, e.g., be just COB, and, then, join with her in using much of the money for charity. So, in this way Melinda would get to pursue the goals and values of charity she got from her nuns. Just a guess. I could make this guess because my wife, her sisters, and their mother were all highly devoted to a life of charity via 'volunteer' work, and much of the origin of their interests in charity was from Christian religion, although in their case Methodist instead of Roman Catholic. But, 'deal' with Bill or not, the record seems to be that Melinda is one heck of a 'super fundraiser': She also got Buffett to hand over much or nearly all of his fortune. Then she publicized the value that any really wealthy person should leave 50% or so to charity. So, I'm guessing that the nuns got Melinda to get Bill and others to cough up $100 billion and counting. And what is Melinda's 'sales pitch?" My guess is just total sincerity with nothing for herself, no money, of course not, but neither fame, status, prestige, etc. It seems to me that in charity Melinda is fairly closely following the values of the nuns. And she did one more: As we know, just having the money and giving it away does not necessarily do much to 'alleviate human suffering' or 'improve the world' as the nuns might want. Instead, giving the money away in effective ways is hard work. So, Melinda got Bill dedicated to the work, and Bill is a bright guy who knows the heck how to get things done. I'm suspecting that heavily Melinda, and before her her nuns, are the real driving force behind all of this. Instead, Bill might be driving/racing Porsche cars! Finally, we have to suspect that 'hard hearted', no nonsense, bottom line oriented, take no prisoners Bill is totally taken with, in awe of, head over heels in love with, and has awesome respect for Melinda. But then some such fits: Supposedly Bill's mother was a big influence on Bill, and a boy with a good mother tends to look for a wife much like his mother. It's nice that tough guy Bill is now harnessed as a very bright and capable horse pulling the wagon of Melinda and her nuns!

And what is the role of his wife and her schooling from nuns?

by graycat 13y ago

And what is the role of his wife and her schooling from nuns?

I don't know, but modern Catholic nuns are kind of bad-ass. For instance, the Ursulines who taught Melinda Gates recently gave a middle finger to the Catholic hierarchy and vocally defended Gates' work despite its support for contraception. Wherever you look for close-minded reactionary people stuck in the 1950s chastising members of their own church for unapproved good works, chances are you'll see nuns on the other side of the argument. I don't doubt that there are a whole lot of bad nuns out there (though just typing those words seems kind of silly to me), but in the modern organized faith they seem like one of the bright spots.

judk 13y ago
Do also note that the top of that hierarchy, the current Pope, is dragging the ethical values of the Catholic Church forward through the centuries, despite significant baggage he can't be expected to just discard (though he should if he could)
- tptacek 13y ago
  The Jesuits are another bright spot in the Catholic church. I had four years of Jesuit high school, and everything people like us seem to like about Pope Frank plays right to the Jesuit type.
graycat 13y ago
I have been guessing that the nuns that taught Melinda got her highly devoted to 'charity' in some general sense and that she and Bill had a 'deal': After he worked his tail off at Microsoft to make a lot of money and, thus, necessarily spent a lot of time at the office instead of at home with her and the kids, he was to back off from an active role at Microsoft, e.g., be just COB, and, then, join with her in using much of the money for charity. So, in this way Melinda would get to pursue the goals and values of charity she got from her nuns. Just a guess. I could make this guess because my wife, her sisters, and their mother were all highly devoted to a life of charity via 'volunteer' work, and much of the origin of their interests in charity was from Christian religion, although in their case Methodist instead of Roman Catholic. But, 'deal' with Bill or not, the record seems to be that Melinda is one heck of a 'super fundraiser': She also got Buffett to hand over much or nearly all of his fortune. Then she publicized the value that any really wealthy person should leave 50% or so to charity. So, I'm guessing that the nuns got Melinda to get Bill and others to cough up $100 billion and counting. And what is Melinda's 'sales pitch?" My guess is just total sincerity with nothing for herself, no money, of course not, but neither fame, status, prestige, etc. It seems to me that in charity Melinda is fairly closely following the values of the nuns. And she did one more: As we know, just having the money and giving it away does not necessarily do much to 'alleviate human suffering' or 'improve the world' as the nuns might want. Instead, giving the money away in effective ways is hard work. So, Melinda got Bill dedicated to the work, and Bill is a bright guy who knows the heck how to get things done. I'm suspecting that heavily Melinda, and before her her nuns, are the real driving force behind all of this. Instead, Bill might be driving/racing Porsche cars! Finally, we have to suspect that 'hard hearted', no nonsense, bottom line oriented, take no prisoners Bill is totally taken with, in awe of, head over heels in love with, and has awesome respect for Melinda. But then some such fits: Supposedly Bill's mother was a big influence on Bill, and a boy with a good mother tends to look for a wife much like his mother. It's nice that tough guy Bill is now harnessed as a very bright and capable horse pulling the wagon of Melinda and her nuns!