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I Really Don’t Understand the Phrase: ‘I’m so Proud of Myself’
Perhaps it comes from living most of my adult abroad, but no one takes pride in themselves like Americans. It’s weird.
I was reading about how the billionaire Rob Hale, speaking at Dartmouth, gave each of the 1200 graduates a check for $1000. He had one request: Keep $500 for yourself and give $500 to a charity of your choosing. The moral of his story was that giving back to society was a good thing. Hale and his wife gave away $1 million a week to charities and causes in 2022., aligning his words with deeds.
As a fellow human, it makes me proud to know that others are so willing to share their abundance with their fellow humans who have less. That pride in humanity also gives me hope that good can overcome evil. As I scrolled down in the article, I read about how one student was going to give her $500.
Kamryn Kobel, an English major, gave her $500 to the Y.W.C.A. in Worcester, Mass., where she learned to swim as a child, to support its programs for young women and survivors of violence.
Her donation felt like something to be proud of, she said — once it sank in that the envelopes she tucked under her rain poncho contained exactly what Mr. Hale had promised (Their Diplomas Came with…
