a noble rich; Andrew Carnegie
“The rich have a moral obligation to give away
their fortune”. This very quote was said by a
noble person named Andrew Carnegie. Interesting
enough he was the first one to publicly urge the
rich, the wealthy and the prosperous to have some
kind of a responsibility and commitment to help
the community. It was his book “The Gospel of
Wealth” that successfully started to promote his
idea of public awareness among the upper class of
the society. He is most remembered as an
industrialist, businessman, millionaire and
humanitarian who strongly believed that the
well-heeled had a duty to share his fortune. He is
also noted for his endless donation that had
successfully boosted the living quality of the
community as a whole especially in education and
promoting peace. One of his first contribution was
dedicated to his native town and then he funded
and created several more philanthropic and
education organizations in the United States and
Europe including the Andrew Carnegie Free Library
in Dunfermline, Scotland and Carnegie Corporation
of New York.
A glance of Carnegie history, he was born
originally from a poor Scottish family in 1835 and
thirteen years later he migrated to the United
States with his family and settled down in
Pennsylvania. He started working at this age as a
bobbin boy at a cotton mill earning $1.20 per week
and then continued to work with Western Union and
the Pennsylvania Railroad. At the age of 30, he
resigned and started his own business that
eventually leads to organizing the famous Carnegie
Steel Company in Pittsburgh which has created a
firm foundation of the iron and steel industry in
the United States. Just about three years later,
his annual income had become $50 000, considered
to be among the highest during his time, he then
declared to himself by writing a note saying,
“Beyond this never earn, make no effort to
increase fortune, but spend the surplus each year
for benevolent purposes.”
His humble, modest, self-effacing, and
down-to-earth attitude together with his sharp
thinking skills that was also well equipped with
his efficient strategies and hard work, had put
himself to a level that was way beyond other
businessmen during his time and even now. He had
created his own league of “nobility” when he
successfully re-defined public commitment amongst
the wealthy with his generosity. Carnegie’s life
came to an end when he died in Lenox,
Massachusetts, on August 11, 1919. His may not be
here physically, but his words and contributions
will always remind us how great example he is to
the wealthy world.
-jazlan-
Reference:
1.Carnegie Corporation of New York, 20th April,
makeURL(”2006, http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/biography.html”,”eHNsL2J1bGxldGluLnhzbA==”);2006, http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/biography.html
