[Greg (FossilMan)]

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Just to be perfectly clear. I am not in the same category or even close to the extremists you describe.

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I did not mean to imply that you were close to these sorts. But you were giving the impression that you were in the same category. You seemed to be implying that I was wrong, and that you couldn't see how anybody could think like me. That any good person would do as you say you would do. And that sounds like righteousness, and I consider righteousness to be a form of evil, but one that is very well disguised.

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I do, however, disagree with your thoughts about good intentions. I don't think they apply to the example I outlined. If I were to come into hundreds of millions of dollars, spliting a good portion of that up with friends and family is the only way I see to live the rest of my life. I honestly can't see how someone could consider not doing this. If there were some of my friends or family that were proud and did not want to accept the donation, I would honor thier wishes, but to not offer, I couldn't live with myself.

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Again, you are putting yourself in my shoes, rather than seeing me for who I am, and the shoes I am in. I am not you, and my family is not your family. That must be why you can't see how I "could consider not doing this".

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Back to your original point which was that people assumed that you had given some of your new found fortune to your parents. I don't particularly have a problem with this assumtion since I do believe that most people that have a good releationship with they're parents would do so. This is originally what I was speaking to and I stand by that assertion.

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Again, you come across as a bit condescending and righteous here. This paragraph almost says that I must not have a good relationship with my parents, or I would have given them money. And that is absolutely a mistake. I have a very good relationship with my parents, but neither of us would ever consider giving money to the other absent something close to an emergency. We believe in self-sufficiency, and that just giving things to people tends to make them lazy as opposed to happy. Teach people, help people improve themselves, but don't just give them money; that is the way we tend to think.

My parents would have gone through a lot of hardship to put me through college, if that had been necessary. And I would go through a lot of hardship to help them in such a manner, if they needed it. But neither of us expects a penny from the other barring such need.

Maybe your family would be happier if you gave them a bunch of money. However, once past the short term, I doubt it would work.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)