Sometimes I hate people. Maybe because they drive SUVs, or because they watch Desperate Housewives. (And let’s not forget those bastards in Marketing.) I would argue that this is not prejudice so much as a statistical model. However, the main problem with these myriad criteria is that I end up hating a lot of people, which isn’t cool. And I mean, maybe they don’t deserve it. They might have good points too.

Now, I’ve taken the occasional jab at Microsoft and its much-maligned founder on this blog. I’ve formed an opinion of him that is almost all bad, little room for grey areas in a dark, swirling black. Imagine how great the world would be if it wasn’t for bastards like that, I would think to myself.

So it was with increasing humility that I read David Pogue’s Reconsidering Bill Gates recently (in the wake of his announcement that he would step down from Microsoft to focus on his charity). This paragraph in particular:

In fact, when you step back far enough, Mr. Gates’s entire life arc suddenly looks like a 35-year game of Robin Hood, a gigantic wealth-redistribution system on a global scale.

Now, it’s easy enough to pick holes in this. But sometimes there is a great opportunity to tell yourself to shut the fuck up. These opportunities are golden, and I try not to miss them. What if Bill Gates is doing more to make the world a better place than I ever will? I quietly took a step down from my moral high ground.