Madden became an orphan at the age of seven. At that time, he had to find shelter and food by himself. In his early years, he read Self-help by Scottish writer smiles. Mars myth, like Madden, was an orphan when he was a child, but he found the secret of success. The seeds of thought in the book Self-help formed a burning desire in Madden's heart, developed into lofty beliefs, and turned his world into a better world worth living.
1893 During the economic boom before the economic panic, Madden opened four hotels. He entrusted all four hotels to others and spent a lot of time writing books himself. In fact, he wants to write a book that can inspire American youth. Just as self-help inspired him in the past. While he was writing diligently, the ironic fate played a trick on him and tested his courage.
Madden brought his book to the front. His motto is: "treat every moment as an important moment, because no one knows when fate will test your character and put you in a more important place!" " "
At this time, fate began to test his character and arranged for him to go to more important places.
1893' s economic panic struck. Two hotels in Madden were completely destroyed by the fire, and the manuscript to be completed was reduced to ashes in the fire. All his tangible property went down the drain.
But Madden has a positive attitude. He looked around to see what had happened to the country and himself. His first conclusion is that economic panic is caused by fear, such as fear of dollar depreciation, fear of bankruptcy, fear of stock price decline, fear of industrial instability and so on.
These fears led to the collapse of the stock market. 567 banks and loan trust companies and 156 railway companies all went bankrupt. Unemployment has affected millions of people, and drought and high temperature have led to crop failure.
Madden looked at the material and spiritual emptiness around him and felt it necessary to inspire his country and people. He was suggested to manage two other hotels by himself, but he denied it. What occupies his body and mind is a lofty belief. Madden combined this belief with a positive attitude. He set about writing another book. His new motto is a self-motivated sentence: "Every opportunity is a great opportunity." He told his friends: "If there is a moment when America really needs the help of a positive attitude, it is now."
Madden works in a stable and lives on $65,438 +0.50 a week. He worked day and night, and finally finished the first edition of Advance to the Front in 1893.
The book was immediately warmly welcomed. In public schools, it is used as a textbook and supplementary reading material. It is widely spread among the employees in the store. It is recommended by famous educators, politicians, priests, businessmen and sales managers as the most powerful reading to inspire people to adopt a positive attitude. It was published in 25 different languages at the same time, and sold millions of copies. Meanwhile, Madden became a millionaire.
Like us, Madden believes that people's quality is the cornerstone of success and maintaining achievements, and achieving truly perfect quality is success itself. He pointed out the secret of success. He pursues money, but he opposes the pursuit of money and excessive greed. He pointed out that there is something thousands of times more important than making a living, and that is to pursue lofty ideals in life.
Madden explained why some people have become millionaires, but they are still complete losers. Those who sacrifice their family, honor and health for money, no matter how much money they can collect, are losers all their lives.
Money can do good or bad things. The key is to use it properly. Besides meeting basic living expenses, money can also be used for charity.
The Rockefeller family brought happiness to thousands of people through donations.
19 At the turn of the 20th century, many great men who once made American industry flourish began to die one after another, and many people were extremely concerned about whose hands their huge wealth would fall.
It is expected that most of these heirs will find it difficult to follow in their father's footsteps and will waste their inheritance in vain.
Take the famous steel magnate John Gates as an example. He once won the title of "gambling millions of dollars" in the steel industry because of his adventure. Later, he passed on his property to his son, but his son was so extravagant that people nicknamed him "throwing a million dollars."
Therefore, people naturally pay great attention to Rockefeller Jr.
1905, Cosmopolitan magazine published a set of arguments about Rockefeller Jr., entitled "How will he arrange it? The prologue goes like this: "People are very interested in the future arrangement of Mr. john D Rockefeller's property-the largest property in the world. This property will be inherited by his son john rockefeller Jr. in a few years. It goes without saying that the influence of this money is so extensive that those who inherit this property can give full play to their financial resources to completely transform the world ... Otherwise, they can use it to do bad things and delay civilization for a quarter of a century. "
At this time, under the diligent work and sincere advice of Mr. Gates, the most trusted friend of the old Rockefeller in his later years, he has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to schools, hospitals and research institutes. And established a huge charity. Although old Rockefeller has invested a lot in the established charity, he is still indifferent to this kind of cause emotionally. He values the art of making money more. How to earn money in other people's pockets is his life's work and the only motivation for his life.
This provided an opportunity for Rockefeller Jr., and at the same time, he firmly grasped the opportunity.
Rockefeller Jr. once recalled: "Gates was an outstanding idealist and creator, and I was a salesman-a middleman who lost no time in selling to my father."
When the old Rockefeller is in a "happy mood", such as after dinner or when he goes out by car, the young Rockefeller often seizes these favorable opportunities to make suggestions, and it really works. Some of his charitable plans are often approved by his father.
During the period of 12, the old Rockefeller invested 4,46719371yuan in four major charities: Medical Research Institute, General Education Committee, Rockefeller Foundation and Laura spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation.
In the process of investment, he gave these institutions to Rockefeller Jr., and Rockefeller Jr. played an active role in the boards of these institutions, far more than just acting as a lobbyist. In addition to helping with surveying and mapping, he also found many outstanding talents to manage and guide these institutions.
190 1 year, at the invitation of philanthropist Robert Ogden, Rockefeller Jr. made a historic trip by train with 50 famous people to inspect the southern black school. After coming back, Rockefeller Jr. wrote several letters to his father, suggesting that a general education committee should be set up. Within two weeks after receiving the letter, the old Rockefeller gave him 10 million dollars, and a year and a half later, he donated another 32 million dollars. In the next 10 years, the amount of donations continued to increase.
After the establishment of Rockefeller Foundation, Gates foresaw the possible international impact of Rockefeller philanthropy with his ingenious pen and business mind.
Considering the commercial and colonial rule, in 19 14, Gates suggested the establishment of the Chinese Medical Association and made plans to establish some modern medical schools in Beijing, China.
Thus, Peking Union Medical College Hospital was born. Rockefeller Jr. personally attended the inauguration ceremony of Beijing and called it "the first-class medical school in Asia" in his speech. These two advanced hospitals have brought healthy gospel and dawn to the people of China.
Among Rockefeller's charities, Rockefeller Jr. is most concerned about and has the most affection for the Social Health Bureau.
During the period of 1909, prostitution was a major topic in the mayoral campaign in new york. Therefore, a grand jury was set up to investigate the business of buying and selling prostitutes. Rockefeller Jr., regarded as "Mr. Nice guy", was invited as the jury chairman of this grand jury.
After accepting the task, he devoted all his energy to working day and night. After working for several months, the grand jury drafted a detailed report. The report suggested organizing a committee to study relevant laws to deal with this social malady, but the mayor of new york refused to set up such a committee, so Rockefeller Jr. decided to go his own way.
19 1 1 year, he invested more than 500,000 dollars to set up the Social Health Bureau.
The first action of the Bureau was to send flexner abroad, and conducted a comprehensive investigation on the differences of prostitution between European countries and the United States.
Flexner traveled all over Europe with a letter of introduction from the US Secretary of State. After he came back, he came to the conclusion that one possibility to control these bad things is to drive them underground and let them play an isolated role in society, if not eradicate them.
The first conclusion he reached was that it is impossible to understand prostitution without knowing the legal environment where prostitution is prevalent.
This conclusion led the bureau to send people to Europe again to conduct the first transnational international police investigation.
The conclusion of the survey is surprising: there is a sharp contrast between professional European police and sloppy American police.
This survey has really contributed a lot to improving the American police system.
The scope, breadth and complexity of Rockefeller Foundation's donation can be written into several books, giving people the impression that a wise and beneficial super charity is operating efficiently.
In fact, many health, education and welfare undertakings handled by the American government in the second half of the 20th century were initiated by Rockefeller in the first half of this century.
In addition to fighting world diseases, Rockefeller Foundation also turned its attention to worldwide famine and food supply.
Some outstanding scientists supported by the Fund have developed new varieties of corn, wheat and rice and provided extensive technical assistance to underdeveloped countries in the world.
Some funds were also used to fund pioneering work in science and technology-the world's largest astronomical telescope was built in California, and the University of California installed a 184-inch cyclotron to help split atoms.
In the United States, there are 10000 scientific and technological personnel who enjoy the working funds provided by Rockefeller Foundation, including many world-class scientists.
In addition to running those huge charities, Rockefeller Jr. also independently engaged in one of his lifelong hobbies: protecting nature.
As early as 19 10, he bought a beautiful island in Maine, just to protect the rugged natural beauty here. He built roads and bridges on the island, which not only facilitated tourists, but also protected nature. Later, he donated all of them to the government and became Achandia National Park.
1924, when he was traveling around Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, he was surprised to see that the roads in the park were piled with stones and gravel and trees were staggered. Only after asking did I know that the government refused to allocate funds to clean up the roadside. So he immediately spent 50 thousand dollars to help clean and beautify the park. Five years later, sweeping the roadsides of all national parks became a permanent policy of the US government.
According to statistics, Rockefeller Jr. spent tens of millions of dollars to protect nature: more than 3 million dollars to build Achadia National Park; Spent more than $6 million to buy land and gave Tresburg Park to new york City. Saving a cliff on the Hudson River for New York State cost more than $654.38 million+million; Donated $2 million to California "Save the Prosperous Cunninghamia lanceolata Alliance"; 654.38+600,000 dollars was given to Yosemite National Park; 164000 USD to Shenandoah National Park; Spent17.4 million dollars to buy more than 33,000 acres of private real estate, and completely handed over the famous landscape "Jackson Hole" of Grand Teton Mountain to the public.
Rockefeller Jr.' s greatest act of justice was to restore and rebuild the entire colonial city-Williamsburg, the colonial capital of Virginia.
The pioneers there once shouted the slogan "Give me liberty or give me death", which is a "priceless treasure" in American history.
Rockefeller Jr. personally participated in the restoration and reconstruction of every building. He authorized that no matter how much money, time and energy were spent, Williamsburg in the eighteenth century should be rebuilt.
Therefore, he paid a total of $52.6 million to restore 8/kloc-0 original colonial buildings, rebuild 4 13 colonial buildings, move or demolish 73/kloc-0 non-colonial buildings, replant 83 acres of gardens and lawns, and build 45 other buildings.
1937, the U.S. government passed a law to increase the inheritance tax rate of assets above 5 million yuan to 10%, and in the following year, it increased the inheritance tax rate of assets above 100000 yuan and100000 yuan to 20%. Even so, the old Rockefeller has been continuously transferred in the past 20 years, and the total assets handed over to the young Rockefeller are still nearly 500 million US dollars, almost equal to the amount donated by his father. The old man only left himself about 20 million shares and entertained himself in the stock market. This huge property fell on Rockefeller Jr.' s head, so big that he or anyone can't finish eating and drinking, so big that a weak-willed person can become a spendthrift, but he never regarded himself as the steward of this property, not the master, and he was only responsible for himself and his conscience.
As long as you have tasted the sweetness in the casino once, it seems difficult to get rid of this circle completely. In fact, many people are ruined by gambling. As long as you are involved, you will be beyond redemption, and if you are far away, you will be saved. Even primary school students understand this simple truth, but gamblers can't extricate themselves. For gamblers, gambling is as addictive as taking ecstasy. Once addicted, they will never jump out of the fire pit.
Whether it's horse racing or mahjong, there are losses and wins in any gambling. Just because of winning, we constantly strengthen the psychology of winning. In order to win, we must gamble again. Although gambling again may not necessarily "lose", it may not necessarily win. Gambling will continue under such a winning or losing situation. This is the magic of gambling.
For those who can't extricate themselves from gambling, experts suggest that they might as well lose once, and it is not difficult to quit gambling when their pockets are empty.
In the 50 years since he left college, Rockefeller Jr. was his father's assistant, and then spent more than $822 million on his passion and vision for charity, which was used to improve human life according to his opinions. He said: "giving is the secret of a healthy life ... money can be used to do bad things, and it can also be a tool to build social life."
The causes he sponsored, whether charitable or economic, are extensive and far-reaching, and have been carefully investigated from beginning to end before investing.
"I am sure that the idea that having a lot of money will inevitably bring happiness will not make people happy just because they are rich. Happiness comes from being able to do something that satisfies some people other than yourself. "
The man who said this was old Rockefeller, but it was his son Rockefeller Jr. who realized it completely.
For him, giving seems to be his job, his vocation and his full-time job.
It is no exaggeration to say that in American social life in the first 50 years of the 20th century, every new undertaking was deeply branded with the Rockefeller family.