Many of you have been following this, right?

I’ve kinda gone back and forth about whether or not she’s humbled herself toward the other cosmo/astronauts, bowing toward both the beauty and is space travel, and even space itself, or if she’s become increasingly self-important throughout the trip, going on about how she’s inspired all these other viewers of her blog to follow their dreams, how she’s now aware how much she’s made history, etc.

But that’s all beside the point. The point is countering these small issues I reckon with either other haters online, and occasionally within myself:

“She’s just an obscenely rich woman who had 20 million to blow. What is the big deal?”

The big deal is that she’s taken the time to document her experiences for folks less fortunate than herself. Unlike the few other fortunate “Haves” who selfishly kept their lives to themselves while in orbit, Ms. Ansari has taken the time to show what her life has been like preparing for her trip (it apparently was no picnic, as anyone training for space would probably tell you), the pitfalls she’s experienced, and even her day to day while in orbit. There’s no video (not yet), but the blog entries are all fully detailed, richly described. She made every effort to make the reader feel as if he/she is really there.

Sure, she’s just an obscenely rich woman with money to blow. But she’s invited the world along for the ride, inspiring many along the way.

Now, Ms. Ansari has already addressed this issue in one of her blog entries (quite well, I might add), but I’m going beat the point home here as well (check the name of the blog, peeps! ).  Because, even now, EVEN NOW, in her blog’s latest entries, she’s still getting clueless, tunnel-visioned jackasses showing up in the comments area whining, “Gee! What a waste of money! Couldn’t you have you have used it to have built schools, give to the poor, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda…”

So, I’ll stick with the same argument that I provided defending Lucy Gao a week or so ago.

WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF ANYONE’S WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR TIME? OR EVEN WITH, AND ESPECIALLY WITH, YOUR MONEY?!?!?!??!

Seriously!

I get really annoyed with nosy busy-bodies pushing themselves into other people’s lives (or blogs) and throwing water on their good time by standing on their high moral ground and spouting rhetoric on things they’ve never experienced, or try to experience.

Like giving money away. Lots of money.

Ever tried to give money away?

When you give a dollar to some bum on the street, ever think about what s/he does with it? Have you really made that person’s life that much richer by giving him/her a hand out that would be gone in seconds? Forcing him/her right back where s/he started from? Is that REALLY helping them?

The richest philanthropist organization in the world is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. My understanding about how they work is that they don’t “give” money to anyone. What they DO do is provide funding for programs that would enable people to provide for themselves. Such as learning new skills, providing for new techniques.

Enabling people to provide for themselves! Hey! What a concept!

If any of these haters bothered to read Ms. Ansari’s bio at all, they would know that she came to this country as a poor teenager, worked hard, saved hard, and did everything she could to get to the place she is today. She also is an active participant in several foundations that, in essence, enable folks to find their feet and provide for themselves. Not sure if she had access to those kind of services as a teen, so she wanted to make sure that kind of support was around for others.

Her organization, Xprize.org, supports space research which, in turn, would provide  products, medications, et. al. for the betterment of ALL of us.

Isn’t that a better use of one’s money than to hand it out at random? To contribute your hard-earned funds to so-called well-meaning organizations set up to feed starving children, only to watch them disappear in the hands of corruption?

And when you give so much to others in the form of starting and funding philanthropist enablements, and you have enough left over for some “me” time, would YOU consider putting the fruits of your “throwaway” investment on worldwide display so that others can follow along and be inspired?

Didn’t think so.

Fact of the matter is, people who work hard get their prize. And if they get their time in space, more power to them! Ms. Ansari paid the price for the right to be in space, and, in the process, is providing investment in, perhaps, the most powerful form of enablement of all.

Inspiration.

Now, should one decide to not go the route Ms. Ansari took to get to where she is today, it is perfectly ok to settle into an average career, as my man Mr. Angry so aptly describes in that just-noted link. Inspiration into the normal, as well as into the heights, is a good thing.

Despite what some say, there’s room for both, in this world.

Update: Hey, waddya know? Ms. Ansari likes Bob Sinclair:

Cool beans!

T-Tags: News, My_Own_Damn_Opinion, Space, Anousheh_Ansari,Blogging
D-Tags: News, My_Own_Damn_Opinion, Space, Anousheh_Ansari, Blogging