I know myself that I'm not a very brave
person I'm absolutely obsessed with
watching movies about world war two and
all the amazing brave things that people
did to save a life. People who had to hide
Jews from the Nazis at a tremendous risk to
themselves or their families or soldiers
that save their comrades during this
intense fighting and I always think to
myself, "Geez Charlie you probably would
be scared to do that. You wouldn't want
to be that...you wouldn't be that brave."
But what's amazing for me and Diana over
the last seven years is that we've been
given the opportunity to save people's
lives in the comfort of our own home in
a sense. We're fortunate enough to have
some disposable income, my wife as a
doctor, I was president of a large
mid-cap retail company and so we have
more money than we probably deserve –
well than we definitely deserve – so
Diana and I realized that we have the
opportunity to save lives in Africa and
South Asia of all kinds of people but
particularly children under five years
old that are dying of diseases that are
completely preventable in the developed
world. You can be saving more lives than
any of those heroes you read about in
the books, more lives than Superman more
lives than Batman, all you have to do is
use your resources in an intelligent way.
Is this only open to people who are
wealthy or very very rich? The answer is
no. You can cover a child with a bed net
that will save them from getting bit by
malaria-ridden mosquito for two dollars.
You can give micro doses of much-needed
folic acid or iron for five cents go to
the website of thelifeyoucansave.org and see those opportunities that
allow you to save lives and reduce
suffering and not have to be a very
brave person. I love it.
you
