Two Modern-Day, Counterculture Heroes

While I personally know there are a multitude of stories out there about people helping others, it still seems that the general media rarely reports about people helping others. Why is it that we seem to celebrate celebrities and sports people and minimize the real heroes of our society – the people who selflessly strive to help their brothers and sisters?

Here are two stories about real modern-day, counterculture heroes. They deserve to have their stories told a bazillion times and we need to honor them as well as others who have given of themselves.

Matt Wage

 “Matt Wage was a brilliant, earnest student at Princeton University, a star of the classroom and a deep thinker about his own ethical obligations to the world. His senior thesis won a prize as the year’s best in the philosophy department, and he was accepted for postgraduate study at Oxford University.”

“Instead, after graduation in 2012, he took a job at an arbitrage trading firm on Wall Street.”

“You might think that his professor, Peter Singer, the moral philosopher, would disown him as a sellout. Instead, Singer holds him up as a model.”

“That’s because Wage reasoned that if he took a high-paying job in finance, he could contribute more to charity. Sure enough, he says that in 2013 he donated more than $100,000, roughly half his pretax income.”

Go here for more of Wage’s story, “The Trader who donateshalf his pay”, Nicholas Kristof, The NewYork Times, 4 Apr 2015.

J.C. Huizenga

“When J.C. Huizenga sold his namesake machinery manufacturing company, he wanted to share the spoils.”

“The Huizenga Group (Grand Rapids, MI) chairman gave out nearly $6 million in bonuses to more than 575 workers in his two Michigan factories. It was his way of thanking the employees for helping grow the company, which now earns about $170 million in annual sales, according to CBS News.”

Go here for more of the story: “Michigan factory owner gives out $6 million in thank-you bonuses”, CBS This Morning, posted in The Huffington Post, “Michigan Factory Owner Gives Out $6 Million In Thank-You Bonuses”, The Huffington Post, Alexander C.Kaufman, 3 Apr 2015.